• 6/30/2007 11:30:00 PMFireworks - Day 9James and Ellie slept over last night.  Ellie wanted to stay so bad but we weren't sure if we should let her.  She is only 7 and I wasn't looking forward to having to take her to the bathroom in the middle of the night and leave James behind to man the tent alone.  As it turns out, she fell asleep on the bed while Peggy and I were counting out the register.  I just covered her with a blanket and that was it.

    Ted and Karen helped out again at the tent today.  They both have really taken to helping customers and selling the fireworks.  They are both "People Persons" - very hospitable and people oriented - which is good.

    Sales were very strong today.  By 11:00 AM we had sold $474.  By 5:00 PM we were at $1,300.  By 11 PM we hit $2,297 making this day our best day so far.  It is about double of our previous best day and the heaviest traffic is yet to come.  We are looking forward for the day we hit $3,000.  That will be a nice milestone.

    An interesting family came into the tent today.  Two adult men, one adult woman and 2 children.  All of the adults were deaf.  They were all very nice but I wondered what kind of things they would purchase.  Things with lots of light but no sound?  Things that make so much sound you can feel it?  In the end, if I didn't know they were deaf, their purchase would be unremarkable.  They shopped no differently than any other customer and the items they selected for purchase were no different.  A few days ago, a blind man came in with his family and I wondered the same thing, "what kinds of fireworks does a person who can't see purchase?".  His purchase was just like any other person's - no different.  I think there is a lesson in there somewhere.

    Another interesting customer came in today.  He was an Army officer stationed somewhere in Minnesota.  He said he would be in Iraq on the 4th so he was purchasing what he could to celebrate with his children before then.  He said, "yes sir" or "yes ma'am" to everyone when he spoke.  My son noticed him immediately.  I told my son, "a man like that will go a long way in this life.  People will respect and remember him.  They will honor and remember his legacy for generations, long after he is gone."  James said, "I want to be like that".