Some Days Are Better Than Others

On August 23, 2009, in Garden, by Trevor

Once in a while a person jumps out of bed ready to meet the day. Sometimes he senses that there is something special in the air. He senses that today is going to be different and that great things are bound to happen.

Saturday was not one of those days for me. I had retired to bed around 3 a.m. the night previously and Heather had the 7 a.m. shift at the hospital. When the children woke up they would have needs and they would hunt down an adult to help them meet those needs. That adult would be me.

When I became somewhat coherent Saturday morning I could tell that Addison had already stopped by the room as objects on my book shelf had taken up new positions on the floor. As I descended the stairs I was greeted by garbage bags. Garbage bags are funny things. They take up so little space when they are wound up in a tight roll. When unrolled, however, they can cover an enormous amount of area. And so the day began. On days like this you are just happy if nobody gets hurt.

Around 10 a.m. Tiffany called. Tiffany was at Giant, our local grocery store, and in the parking lot there was a tomato contest going on. NatureSweet Tomatoes was having a contest to see who had the best small and large tomatoes with a $2500 grand prize going to the winner of each category. Tiffany had been chatting with the folks in the booth and thought I should grab some tomatoes out of the garden and bring them over before 11:00. There had not been an overwhelming number of entries so far and maybe I would have a shot. I needed to do some shopping anyway and kids out of the house are usually better than kids in the house so I decided to do it.

After picking out a couple of large tomatoes and a number of cherry tomatoes from the garden I herded Luc and Addison into the car. After parking the car we headed over to the booth with our tomato offering. After learning that I could only enter tomatoes in one category I settled on the cherry tomatoes. I had tried one of the large tomatoes before leaving the house, and while excellent in tomato sauces it wasn’t a spectacular eating tomato. The cherry tomatoes, on the other hand, were tasty.

So I submitted the cherry tomatoes and picked up our goodie bag and a Food Network salt box. Luc then got a chance to spin a wheel to see what other prize we got and we picked up another coupon for free tomatoes. We then hurried through the store and grabbed what we needed before heading home.

Food Network Salt Box

The announcement was going to be at noon so I passed the time picking raspberries while Addison pretended to take a nap in my bed and Luc played with the neighbor. As noon drew near I had to drag Luc away from his friend and the WII which he was none too happy about. For a moment I thought of not going back for the announcement because I thought my chances of winning were pretty close to 0, but in the end I just blocked out the yelling and pouting and headed back over to hear who won.

I dragged Luc through the parking lot and over to the booth (nope, he still didn’t want to be there). Once the emcee started talking he stuck his fingers in his ears. The first announcements were for the large tomato category. There were two runner ups before the grand prize winner was announced.

Next was the small tomato category, which really is the only important category. The large tomato category only exists so that NatureSweet doesn’t have to listen to the big tomato growers complain about being left out. The emcee began by announcing the 2nd runner up followed by the 1st runner up. Neither of them was me which was both good and bad. A runner up received $250 worth of store voucheers which is far better than $0 worth of store vouchers.  As the emcee prepared to announce the grand prize winner I wondered if I would feel any different inside then I currently did if I were in fact the winner. Would I sense that I was gong to win? If so then I definitely wasn’t going to win. I felt less like someone who was going to win a contest and more like someone who was really tired from not having slept. But maybe those two feelings are really one and the same because when the emcee opened his mouth to announce the winner out came Trevor. But wait, Trevor who? The emcee didn’t have his glasses on and was having a hard time with the last name. But once I heard that it started with a “D” I was pretty sure it was me.

Luc and Addison didn’t really know what was going on but Luc took his fingers out of his ears so that he could hold the oversized check while we had our picture taken with the NatureSweet folks. Addison was a little scared of all the hubbub but I think she looked at the camera at least once while not crying. As for me, I was thrilled. I never win anything so this was very exciting. The tomatoes from our garden had just beat out at least TWO other people and I got $2500 for it.

After getting all of the necessary papers, a nice plaque and another free tomato coupon Luc, Addison and I made our way back into Giant. We just needed some drinks but we were in no hurry this time around. This time we were holding a giant prize check. This time I was no longer aware of the effects of sleep deprivation.

NatureSweet Tomato Contest Check

So you never know what kind of day you are going to have. It could be a bad one. But it could also be a great one. Maybe your sister will happen across a contest that you have unknowingly been preparing for for months. Starting with the moment when you found out where your grandma purchased her seeds, followed by your wife ordering a particular variety of cherry tomatoes and finishing off with lots of tilling, weeding and fending off of children who would otherwise pluck unripened tomatoes from the vine. And then maybe, just maybe, you might win that contest and get a leg lamp in the mail.

See the announcement on the NatureSweet site.

 

2 Responses to Some Days Are Better Than Others

  1. Kimberly says:

    Hooray! This is still quite exciting news. Did you spend the money on that electrical repair, or more high quality seeds? I think it is funny that a product company sponsors this contest- don’t they want you to buy their product instead of growing your own?!? Congrats.

    • Trevor says:

      Still waiting for the check so it hasn’t been spent yet. NatureSweet advertises their tomatoes as being as good as homegrown because they let them ripen on the vine. They know most people don’t grow so having a contest around great tasting homegrown tomatoes makes sense for them.

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