I don't know what they are, but I'll take 5 of them.

Just as I was leaving the office today, I realized that I had missed multiple calls from my son. I checked the voice mail and received an urgent request that I stop by a local store, Smith's Variety, and pick up "animal bracelets." I needed a pack for Peppy and a pack for Ginny and Annieboo too. I called him back to confirm exactly what I was getting. I was told, "They'll know. Just tell them you need animal bracelets." So I waltzed into Smith's Variety where an exhausted looking clerk was resting against the main counter. I asked for animal bracelets and was told they were all sold out. A little girl next to the counter looked up as if she'd just been told that The Jonas Brothers would never sing another note. I think I could almost hear her heart break. I was offered a chance to put my name on the waiting list for when the next shipment arrived. I signed my name, listed my phone number and then told her I would take 5 of them. "Five bracelets, five packs, five...?" the cashier asked. "I dunno. I don't even know what I'm buying, but I know there are three children that want them desperately and if there's a waiting list, I'll ask for two extra. For all I know these bracelets are made of live snakes and leak lead into the skin, but I do know I need them." The cashier shook her head like I was crazy and I thought to myself, "One day you'll have kids and you'll know the drive to provide things of which you have no understanding, just because a child is counting on you to get them." It doesn't matter if it's Luke Skywalker action figures for your two sons, a giggling Elmo doll, or the newest gaming system. At some point the reward of being a hero in a child's eyes will overwhelm common sense and good thinking and you too will ask for five of who-knows-what.