PennyDaisy

My sister owes me her firstborn child.  Why?  I got her a street sign yesterday!  No, really, I did. 

The city was going through replacing a bunch of street signs, and I drove by them while they were doing it on our street.  When I got home I told Steph, and she wanted it—very badly.  We drove down there real quick and got out to ask the guys if we could have it.  (They were young, BTW. grin)  They wouldn’t let us take it…said they weren’t allowed to.  Steph asked, “What if we steal it?  Will you chase us down?”  He said no, but as the sign was still attached to the pole (that’s right, we got a new pole and stop sign, too), I didn’t see how we’d run off with it.  I pictured the two of us hightailing it down our street with this huge pole and street sign between us, leaving the car, course, because it wouldn’t fit.

Steph had to leave for canoeing, but she was really bummed.  She kept telling me to call someone, but who do you call?  The mayor?  After she left I got online and looked up League City, and found a number for the streets department.  I asked the lady there if they were responsible for the new streets signs being put up, and she said, “Yes, that’s us.”  I said, “Good, can I have my sign?”  The supervisor, George, was on the other line so she took my number and address to have him call me back.  He called about 5 minutes later and said that unless it was an old oval one, they recycle them, so he couldn’t give it away.  Oval?  Has anyone ever seen an oval street sign?  But he said he’d keep my number and if, for any reason, they were just going to throw ours away, he’d give me a call.  I realized later how easy it would be for him to just blow the whole thing off and move on with his work.  But apparently he didn’t: thirty minutes later he’s on our doorstep asking for me.  He said, “You wanted the old sign…like, the name? (I think he couldn’t figure out why we wanted it)  I’ve got it in the truck…”  Turns out it was an old one (by oval he meant rounded corners instead of straight edges), and he’d found it for me (I guess he chased those guys down, too).  Good thing I’m not big on hugging guys…I might have thrown myself at him.  I don’t know if he had to come this way to check on his workers or not.  Personally, I think he was so baffled by the idea of wanting an old street sign that he came to see what kind of people we were.  I like to think that we’ve created a great story for the city workers to circulate… “So, we’re out there digging away, and these girls drive up… My office got a call from this lady…when I found the sign and took it to her house she was so excited she was jumping up and down…over a street sign!”

The sign is now in Steph’s bedroom, and she owes me, big time.

The moral of the story, according to my father–persistence wins.  Mom said he kept saying, “She just wouldn’t take no for an answer!”  He told me he’s proud of my persistence.  Cool.

Funny thing is, I don’t consider myself a persistent person.  Stephanie helps me…she pushes me and nudges me to stretch.  If she hadn’t insisted on marching down there…she’s really not afraid of anyone.  I want to be like her when I grow up.