Stickers

I was very excited to pick up the rolls of "Reader's Favorite Prize Winner" stickers from the post office yesterday. Two rolls of sticker-medallions: One bronze and one silver.

Bronze Medal

Two prize-winning books = Two rolls of sticker-medallions: One bronze and one silver.

Silver Medal

As I opened the envelope, I explained how excited I was to the post office worker and that my family would be unimpressed by my achievement. Then I asked if she would like to see the stickers. She said yes and asked about my books. She was dutifully impressed by my achievement and by the stickers. (I can almost hear my kids rolling their eyes at this point, thinking, "OMG -- She actually made the post office worker watch her open the envelope?")

At home, I did not mention the stickers to my mother. She is too pre-occupied with my sister's upcoming wedding to care about much else. My dad, however, is different. Although I anticipated his reaction ("Why not the gold?"), I went ahead and told him about picking up my stickers from the post office. His reaction was almost as anticipated, "The silver...but not the gold." -- It is funny how well we know our parents.

After his comment, though, he said something that surprised me. The reason it surprised me is that my dad is a Ph.D. physicist and the comment did not make logical sense. He said the last thing he heard was that I would let him know if I made it to the finals, but that he had never heard anything AND it was too bad I did not make it in. He was not joking. He was serious. Shaking my head to clear it, I explained that I DID make it into the finals with both books, and THEN I won the awards. I chalked up Dad's initial reaction to the fact that he was preoccupied by his laundry while I was speaking.

Later on in the day, in the car with my very smart, almost grown-up daughter who is in all the advanced placement classes at school, I had a similar experience. I showed her a book with a sticker on it (2011 Reader's Favorite Bronze medal winner) and told her I got my stickers in the mail. Now I KNOW I told the girl I was a finalist because I remember talking with her about needing to know whether or not she would accompany me to the awards banquet so that I could make the reservation. She did not want to miss the days of school, so I did not reserve a place for her at the table. In the car yesterday, though, she sounded disappointed when she stated that I had not made it into the finals.

Again, I found myself explaining that one must get into the final round before one wins an award. -- Oh, and now she wants to miss school to come with me to Miami for the banquet. (Sigh.)

Am I going crazy? Maybe I am just too stupid to understand. What am I missing that two highly intelligent people cannot seem to do the math that winning an award means I had to first get into the final round?

~ author Beth Durkee