Beth is the best Aunt ever!!

June 1, 2010

We don't get to see my sister or her children very often due to geography. 

Hold that thought, CJ's school bus just went by our house at the normal time it used to when school was in session.  I would sit here on Tuesdays after CJ walked to the bus stop and wait for the bus to drive by.  CJ would be cringing as I always threatened to be out in our front yard waving, or holding a sign, or blowing kisses or something equally annoying.  So, do you think the bus driver got the memo?  School is done for the year.  Will she continue to drive her route every day until someone stops her?  Will she become a big rolling ice cream bus during the summer?  Instead of the theme to The Sting, or A Small World, the speakers will be blaring math facts. 

I gotta believe trying to get kids to buy ice cream from a school bus would be an epic fail.  Unless of course, you offered them Silly Bandz as an incentive.  That is the segue I needed to get back on topic.  You could probably even skip the ice cream if you were selling Silly Bandz from a school bus/ice cream truck/scary van. 

Silly Bandz and their knock-off cousin, Goofy Bands, are how Aunt Beth became the hero to one little boy this summer. 

My nephew is the middle child between two sisters.  He is not mistreated or left out as his dad is a military guy and there is always plenty of sports or rough-housing going on.  He has plenty of toys from the Cars movie and Toy Story.  Don't worry about him.  However, dad is out of the country right now, and Silly Bandz became huge after dad got deployed.

For those of you who do not have children or any need to watch Nickelodeon, (or live out in God's country..say Oregon), Silly Bandz are simply a rubber band bracelet in the shape of an animal or princess necessity.  You wear them, then take them off, and they stay in the shape of the dress, wand, or monkey they started in.  They are incredibly hard to find in stores right now.  You can trade gold for Silly Bandz.  Straight up.  There are desparate moms out there.

I asked my sister what the kids were into down there in Georgia as we plan to spoil them a bit when we visit.  We were told Silly Bandz.  I gotta believe my sister had some revenge in her heart when she uttered this phrase.  Did she know Beth and I would do whatever it took to come through on this request?  She also, correctly, calculated the fact that my kid is 13 and not into Nickelodeon any more.  We would have no idea of rubber band bracelet phenomena.  Years of torment as a younger sister were washed away by telling me that her children would really like to have some new sea animal or princess Silly Bandz. 

So on to the Internet we went.  We found out where these Bandz were being sold, and got in the car.  We thought maybe it was only a Georgia fad and had not made its way to Cincinnati yet.  We temporarily forgot that nothing happens in Georgia first in the way of fashion trends.  People down there still have Chia Pets and Pet Rocks on their Christmas lists.  Maybe we will be able to "clap on" this time when we get to our hotel room.

DISCLAIMER:  Georgia people, that was sarcasm.  At your expense, yes, but sarcasm nonetheless. 

I will be visiting Georgia this upcoming week and want to make it out alive.  All in good fun, Georgians.

Back to this saga.  So our car trip to 3 stores quickly netted one pack of a Silly Band knock-off at Party City.  We did not know how grateful we needed to be for these.  Everywhere else we went was sold out. 

The next day at Target, we received Goofy Bands.  I looked at them, saw they were in shapes of fast food, military stuff, and something else not princess or animal related.  I arrived home, told Beth about not purchasing these Goofy Bands since they were not what was requested (and that they were $5 for a 24 pack).  Beth looked at me, frowned, and said, "You're right, there is no way Ben would want anything military related."  Once again, sarcasm comes into play as an effective form of communication. 

In the car we were, Goofy Bands were purchased, and immediately shipped to Georgia.  Two days later, my sister and 5 year-old Ben are on the phone telling Beth how she was the best aunt ever and how she had made Ben's whole month. 

Who will be welcomed into my sister's house with open arms?  No, not favorite, cool, blood-relative Uncle Steve.  Cool Aunt Beth, that's who.