OH thank heaven! {the time i got locked in the 7-11 freezer & dusty baker}

my dad used to own one.

did you know?

san bruno, ca.

we always made mud pies in the dirt out front.

once a year every year we hit up the good ol' 7 to the 11.

man i miss those white complimentary paper cups behind the register.

unlimited slurpees for a hard day's work at the register, 

and stocking processed fructose corn syrup items down each and every glorious aisle.

oh big chew purple bubble gum.

i still crave that sugar filled gum.

and it makes me feel like a reall ball player.

really, it does.

then there was bubble tape.

that was always a good time.

eat it all at once or cut it up with it's little opening and closing gum slicer through the next three days?

tough decisions folks.

TOUGH.

perfect potato chips.

reese's peeeeeeeanut butter cups!

and then sometimes if we were REALLY lucky Dusty Baker would come in 

to buy a coffee or whatever it was that he bought.

i think he was the manager of the giants back then.

anyway, it was the COOLEST thing
b/c he was a famous GIANTS guy to our little kid selves.

magic. 

and we would have him autograph his baseball card for us.

and then i would always brag about it to my friends in utah,

and i'm sure they all thought i was so dumb b/c who in the heck was dusty baker to them anyway???

he was super awesome to me.

#1 little giant's fan.

the lunch break was the best part of working at the store with my dad.

my brother and sister and i would set up shop in the back on plastic crates,

counting down the seconds for the ghetto old microwave to heat up our little individual pizza roll packs.

then we would count them all out, line them up, and see who's pack had the most.

my tongue always ALWAYS got burned b/c i was never patient enough to wait for them to cool down.

nothing's changed.

and then there was that one time when i got locked in the giant cooler in the back all by myself.

that dang heavy door always got stuck!

always!

and so i had to take one entire row of beverages out one by one,

and it took for what felt like forever,

until i could finally worm my way through the empty gatorade chilled section.

it was quite the tight fit,

let me tell you.

of course the manager found me just as my arms were escaping through the glass refrigerated door,

and half of my body was out, hands on the disgusting laminate floor, legs still completely stuck where the gatorade was supposed to be, with the door pushing against half of me,

like some form of downward 7-11 yoga dog.

or whatever.

now THAT'S what i call survival skills folks!!!

survival!

or something.

have mercy.

it was just so cold.

and i didn't even have the over sized cooler coat to put on in there.

and i thought i was just going to DIE and be frozen like an ice cube and lost forever!

hahahahahahahaha...

desperate times called for desperate measures.

i hope that i never have to crawl out through the freezer section of a convenience store ever again.

but i always think about that day every year 

when i take my kids to get their free SEVEN-ELEVEN slurpees. 

we sat up against the wall in the front of the store for everyone to finish 

b/c there AIN'T NO WAY they were getting into my car with their red slurpees. 

not happenin'!

i've turned into my parents.

no shame. 

and it was pouring, 

but it was warm, 

and the rain just smelled so amazing. 

chase drank almost all of mine. 

brennan tried to drink all of max's after he drank all of his.

and then he tried to drink chase's.

chase might be the smallest gibson, but he's the fiercest.

don't mess with a man's slurpee.

ever.

then the rain REALLY started to come down.

we were soaked and drove home with the heater on in july.

it was awesome.

OH THANK HEAVEN FOR 7-11!

:):):)