Tricks In Pockets

"Pocket, Pocket, what's in my pocket?"  We used to play that game in third grade.
Educational for sure for 7 to 9 year olds.  But it never ends, does it, the game of "What's in my pocket?"

My brother carries tidbits in his pockets.  When he looks down at his shirt pocket, uses two hands to widen the opening and retrieve some slip of paper, you never know what treasure he'll withdraw.  It could be an old black and white photo, a list, or a quick jovial cartoon.

A war veteran, Mark Eklund, kept a piece of paper with kinds words from his fellow students written on it until he died.  At his funeral, his teacher and relatives shared their own papers they'd kept.

Reading Ann Landers was entertaining and  inspiring.  She would repeat anything pertinent or timely.  One such letter was from a husband who'd found her column in his wife's belongings.  Ann Landers titled it "A Wife's Message of Love From the Grave".  The wife had written hilariously self-deprecatingly about her aged body, then ended her note with this thought, "Now, my love, is it lights on or off?  I'm yours - you can make book."

Grandpa Mac, who was actually my great grandpa, was a jolly people lover.  He loved to tease kids, too.  On Sunday, after church services, you could count on him giving you some sweet treat from his pocket.  It might have pocket fuzz, but we were kids, we didn't care.  It was still sweet, all the way 'round.

My mother used to laugh telling about cleaning out the boys' pants pockets before dropping them into the clothes washer.  One time she fished her hand into a pair and came out with brown wiggly worms!

My pockets these days carry notations of punch lines.  In fourth grade, I was to give an oral report.  Mom suggested, "Instead of you looking down at your paper all the time, you need to look at the class, so just jot down a few notes to trigger what you want to say."  That advice has worked well over the last 50 years in so, so many ways.

At TJMaxx during a company meeting I'd solved a hangman type puzzle presented to a group of about 40 people so quickly that the managers exclaimed, "Who said that?"  Well, after I'd owned up, the district manager came over and gave me a Fun Meter button.  I wear it.

I wear it tongue in cheek.  I'm not really all that fun.  But, hey, I can take a whack at this.  I'm game.  Now I carry my own little cheat sheet (actually it's a yellow post-it note) in my pocket.  This way I can tell customers a joke while we're waiting for the pinpad to read their credit card chip.

You know how it is if you have one.  You stand there and patiently wait for the "beep, beep, beep" indicating it's been accepted.  While waiting, I smile and voice that ole Jimmy Fallon one-liner, "Let's have a moment of silence for the chip reader."

If the customers' purchases are substantial, if they're taking a little more time to ring up and bag, I quickly retrieve the notes from my pocket to  regale them with jokes.  Tricks in my pocket.   Couldn't be better!