Redheaded Temptation

If it hadn't happened to me, I wouldn't have believed it.

I felt the feeling one other time in my life, when on a break from college...

I was watching a movie at my home with a girl that I was quite attached to, when I heard a knock on the door. I excused myself to go answer it, and was amazed to see a different girl at my door. I was even more amazed when I realized that she was there to see me!

I had always had an interest in the girl at the door, but had never been able to convince her to go on a date with me. Yet suddenly, there she was, asking me if I'd like to go out... Now.

There she stood, eyes glistening and smile shining from the porch light, shortly after nine o'clock on a Friday night. A hint of her perfume hung in the crisp evening air...

I'd always had an interest in redheads in general and her in particular. Clairol calls her hair color "Paint the Town" Red, and the lights from passing cars made her practically glow. Red to many people means stop, but to me it said "GO GO GO!"

I felt a similar feeling a few days ago.

I came to my office and found a big box sitting in my chair.

I knew what it was the moment I saw it. I had received these packages before.

You've got to understand the internal conflicts here on deployment. You miss family and friends, but you're surrounded with people most of the time. You have food to eat at the DFAC, but it's not what you're used to at home. You enjoy a taste of home, but you still need to stay fit.

People send care packages with goodies. Some with books, dvds, magazines, hygiene supplies...

Most packages have some sort of food or goodies. Here's a clue... Fruits, vegetables and healthy foods generally don't ship well.

I arrived here late on Christmas Eve, and Christmas goodies kept arriving well into January.

Then Valentine's Day Goodies showed up, and kept showing up. Finally, a week or two after Valentine's day, I thought all was well.

That's when the first box arrived. It was huge and heavy. I was surprised to see it, until I opened it... Then I remembered, I had given my address to a friend involved with a charity that ships boxes of goodies to Military Members all over the world:
www.heartsacrossthemiles.org/ (Good folks there!)

I didn't make an exact count, but there were more than 50 boxes of girl scout cookies in the box. Each vibrantly colored box, with bright smiling scouts and full of the classic goodies... Thin Mints and Trefoils and Dosidos and Samoas and Lemon Chalets and even some new flavors.

For a day or two I was the hero, giving out the boxes left and right to all around me...

Then I got the second box... and the process repeated, but not as quickly, as everyone was feeling the same internal conflict. The temptation to eat the cookies, and to keep on eating them is strong.

The healthy choice is to eat none or only a few. I was feeling good that I'd been able to sample the cookies without overindulging. I gave away almost all of them, and was feeling good that I had managed to spread the joy without eating myself into a Girl Scout sugar induced stupor.

Then the third box arrived.

I was suddenly shocked to realize that deep down, I was frustrated over Girl Scout Cookies!

I was! I felt the frustration because I had to continue resisting them, no matter how delicious they are... Because really, it's easy to eat a tube of Thin Mints in 10 minutes, but you'll need to spend about 5 hours in the gym to burn off the calories!

We make choices every day. We strive to balance the healthy and unhealthy in our lives. I've now given away well over 100 boxes of cookies, but I have about 50 to go...

Back on my front porch, so many years ago, I had to choose quickly...

The girl downstairs watching a movie, or the girl on the front porch, ready to go dancing...

(For a moment I thought about inviting her in to watch the movie also, but realized that I'd have TWO upset girls then! Didn't think I was manly enough to pull that off!)

In the end, I stuck with the girl who'd responded to MY invitation, and sadly sent the redhead away.

"I'm sorry, but I really can't right now."

It was hard to say, as I instinctively knew that I wouldn't get another chance. I was frustrated to miss dating my "dream girl" but at least my honor was intact.

The girl downstairs didn't ask who'd been at the door, and I didn't tell her...

Who wants a cookie? How about an easter bunny?