Nothing In Life Is Free...

It's always a good time to pull embarrassing stories out of the archives!

We were newcomers to the Middle East.
We had just come from the US, where everything is available at either Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or Target.
I was just adjusting to living in a big city where there were no apparent mega-stores or one-stop-shop places.
We had just signed a lease on our apartment which had a fabulous back yard for the kids to play.
My very ingenious hubby crafted a sand box for them out of building scraps left in the lot next to ours.
I was ready to fill it with clean, fine sand for hours of enjoyment for my children.
But, no Home Depot.
No Lowes.
Where to go?
I decided to start at a big garden shop. I was so proud of myself.
I even figured out how to say it in Arabic. I was really proud of myself.
I went in, head high.
I looked around.
I approached the employee with confidence.
I executed my perfectly formed sentence requesting to buy sand.
He smiled.
This was going to be so easy.
We would be playing in clean, fine sand by dinner that night!
There was an awkward pause.
His smile spread a little wider.
I panicked.
Did I say it wrong?
Are they out of stock right now?
Does is cost a lot of money here?
It all of a sudden got really hot in there.
The employee finally broke the awkward silence.
In perfect English.
He kindly said:
"Mam. Have you noticed we are living in the middle of a desert? We don't sell sand here. You can just drive out of the city with a bag and there is as much as you want for free."
I smiled.
I left.
I never went back to that place.
It really was too bad that I had not noticed that fact sooner.
We WERE surrounded by sand.
I swallowed my pride and went home.
I told my hubby we were due for a trip outside the city...and we had to take a bag.
Look at all the clean, fine sand we found!
For free!

And look how happy the kids were with their clean, fine sand and really strange unobservant mother.