The Great Pumpkin Amuck

It was October; I was in a singles ward and in charge of planning Family Home Evening. With Halloween nearing, I decided to not use an ounce of creative planning and just carve pumpkins with the singles. It was a great ward, we always had a great turnout and a Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin carving event was a safe way to not disappoint. Any activity was good as long as we had some sort of food. You can get single guys to any event with a little food and the ladies always seem to end up where the cavemen are…. get us together and you may as well be serving up a big pot of steamy pheromones. So pumpkin carving and treats it would be.

I was in charge of going to pick up ALL of the pumpkins for our activity. I found a couple of boys with a truck because I surely did not want to put the dirt covered pumpkins in the back of my car and more importantly I did not want to be the work horse hauling them. Who honestly wants to carry thirty pumpkins from the front of the store to the checkout, from the checkout to the car, from the car to the church? I was taught that girls are not supposed to get dirty, you know, the sugar and spice and everything nice thing, and I kind of wanted to keep it that way.

I was a little nervous about picking up the pumpkins, as I was dirt poor, barely making my bills, - the National Debt had nothing on me. My calling called for a lot of “you buy it now and we’ll reimburse you later” receipts. I was living with only one roommate making rent a little higher than I was used to, having my fair share of car problems for the month and paying off some credit cards which I had cut up so I could not be tempted to use them. To be extra cautious I checked my bank account balance minutes before I headed to the store just to make sure I had the funds to cover this bill until I got paid two days later.

There were three of us headed to the store… me, Will and Scott. Will was really nice and had a liking for my roommate so he was more than happy to help me to as to win some extra brownie points with my roommate. Scott irritated me to no avail but as long as he would be my pack mule I could handle him for the thirty minuets this was going to take.

We arrive to pseudo “pumpkin patch” and start picking out pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. Tall, skinny ones. Short, fat ones -- some with “warts”-- white ones -- orange ones. You name it, we got it. I could almost see the singles now, running as fast as they can, elbowing the person next to them, pulling hair, calling names in order to win the prize of the “perfect pumpkin”. I’m lost in this vision with a goofy Lucy smirk on my face as we head to the check-out stand.

We decide to go to “self check-out” for some lame reason. I would not recommend doing this on such a huge pumpkin buying feat – it was a lot of work and you should definitely let a trained checker do that work for you. I watch the pumpkins ring up one at a time… $2.43, $6.74, $14.87… the number slowly rises with each pumpkin that we scan. $24.58, $39.31, $56.49 and half way done. I’m beginning to get a little nervous in my mind. I know I have exactly $132.91 in my bank account; surely I’d have enough money to pay for this. My heart is beating faster $64.87, $83.75, $104.54. Just a few pumpkins left to scan and I feel sweat beading up on my forehead. I am suddenly feeling quite overheated in this crisp October weather. $117.34, $121.43. One more pumpkin to scan. $126.34.

Hallelujah! My heart slows down; I wipe the sweat from my brow. Everything is going to be all right, I have enough money in my account. There wont be much left after this, but I can live off of $6.57 for two more days, I did only live ten blocks from work, I could go in on my roller blades if I had to and I had an unopened box of Wheat Thins in the cupboard, and if I cut the mold off the cheese I knew I’d survive. I’d be able to pay for the pumpkins and not be humiliated so I could live off nothing if I had to!

I’m lost in these thoughts of gratitude when I realize that Will and Scott are looking at me. “Are you going to pay” they say. “Oh of course, I was daydreaming” I say. I rummage through my purse and find my debit card. I walk to the check out. I swipe my card. Waiting, waiting, waiting. DECLINED. What? How? WHY?? This can’t be right! I knew how much money I had in my account, why is it not working? I don't even have a credit card on me, why did I think it was a good idea to cut up all my credit cards?? I try again. Swipe. Waiting, waiting, waiting, this time it seems to be thinking longer than before. DECLINED. My face goes beat red. Heart sinking into my stomach now. I’m certain there are sweat rings in my armpits. I feel like throwing up.

“You don’t have enough money?” Scott says belittling. “Do you seriously live pay check to pay check?” He continues. I am speechless. I don’t know what to do. Of course he does not offer to pay. Of course he judges me for living pay check to pay check. He is living under his parent’s roof, working for his millionaire dad, driving his fancy car so of course he has money saved – how can he honestly judge me when we live totally different lives? I feel like dying now when Will pipes up. “Don’t worry about it, I got it”, “Its no big deal he says”. I’m so very thankful to say the least. Words can’t express how grateful I was that the conversation with Scott did not have to continue.

It was a quiet and awkward ride to the church, it was only six blocks but it felt like six thousand. I was now wishing that I would have gone to the store by myself and left my work horses home. Getting dirty from the pumpkins and a sore back from the lifting would have been much less painful than what I had just been through.

We got the pumpkins to the church and I quickly ran to the bathroom to unwind. Once I regained my cool I go out to greet everyone, avoiding Scott like the plague. No one fought over the pumpkins as I had hoped. But a good time was had by all.

I learned a lot that night. First, that I should not plan activities where I’m required to bankroll the event. Second, that it really does suck living pay check to pay check. Third, don't ever leave home without a credit card. And the most important of all, fourth, not to ever judge another person until I’ve been in their shoes.