Trade-sies

I never had a lunch worth trading. My mom was a believer in well balanced meals, which was not appreciated at the prime trading time of my life. NO smart child would trade a banana for mnm's or a string cheese for Trix yogurt with sprinkles. So if my sack lunch would not suffice for trading than neither would the cafeteria food. I would have been the laughing stock of the 2nd grade lunch table if I thought ants-on-a-log was appropriate bargaining material.

There was one girl though who knew how to get the best swap. Always well equipped with pb&j on white bread, an apple juice box, go-gurt ( or another fake form of yogurt), potato chips, and some variety of sweet. She'd place her brown bag lunch on the table, unroll the top, and start to unload that day's sought after contents. The bidding would begin.

"I'll give you my popcorn for your Doritos!!"

"I'll trade you my Root-beer for your cookies!!"

Most times she would wait for all the kids to place their bids before making a final decision. Even after choosing her top pick, she found always found a way to sweeten her end of the deal.

"I'll give you ONE cookie if I get your Root-beer AND 10 chips..."

"Done!"

Irresistible, kids could never deny her deals even if they were a complete rip-off.

I imagine in following years she perfected her bargaining skills and was able to acquire more than some poor saps sack lunch.


I was never able to break into the trading circle, even at Halloween when my chances would appear to greatly increase with the introduction of candy into my meal. My only conclusion is that I lacked the confident and savvy nature the top traders possessed.

At the end of the day my only choice is to look at the situation for the positive. I most likely have a wider palate than those children now and I haven't become chubby on Cheetos.

So I guess a big thanks should go to my mom for teaching me the value of a well balanced meal, even if I did miss out on the prime trading time of MY LIFE.