Grateful

“Don’t let it melt.”, the crowd shouts at Contestant #2. He looks as though he is ready to quit, and we all can see his popsicle is starting to melt. The one rule of the game: “If your popsicle melts, you are automatically out.”

Today is my city’s 4^th Annual River Jamboree Popsicle Contest. There are 3 contestants competing, and each one has to eat as many popsicles as they can in 2 minutes. Contestant #2 is on popsicle #15 and starting to crash hard. He finally raises his hands after the first minute to declare he is done.

As I quickly scanned the crowd, I noticed there are a lot of people in attendance, way more than what was here last year when I competed.

Last year, there were only 2 contestants, me and another guy named Daniel. Daniel and I were running neck and neck with each other until the last 10 seconds. We had made it to popsicle #40 when I glanced over at him, and noticed he was starting to suffer from a major brain freeze. I kept going and soon at popsicle #42, my component raised his hands, with 2 seconds left, to say he was done. I ate one more to secure my win, and then I was declared as the winner, unofficially.

Clare, my wife, ran up to me immediately and kissed me saying “Congratulations Baby.” I kissed her back but then turned towards the doctor, on hand, for him to give me some medicine to kill the numbness. In the meantime, the counter counted our clean popsicle sticks to re-validate the win and make it official. After about 5 minutes, she stepped back up to the podium. I smiled. I was ready to collect my 1^st place trophy and $500 prize.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for joining us today for our most exciting contest to-date. First, we would like to thank all our sponsors for their support. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to have this contest. We want to especially give thanks to ‘Merry-sicles’ for their donation of all the popsicles today. We would like to thank our 2 contestants, Daniel and Craig. Let’s give them a big round of applause……..We would also like to thank all of you in the audience for coming out today and cheering these 2 guys on. Without further a due, the sticks have been recounted, and today’s winner for the 3^rd Annual River Jamboree Popsicle Contest is…….drumroll please……Daniel Kemp”.

Clare and I looked at each other. “What?” My wife stood up before I did and yelled “Are you kidding me? How?”

The counter continued on “Daniel Kemp actually finished 44 popsicles before declaring he was done, and Craig Myers came in a close second with finishing 43. Gentlemen, please come back up to the podium to receive your awards.”

It was then that Clare and I grabbed our things and started walking back to our car. I didn’t even go up to receive the 2^nd place medal. We both felt that I was cheated, and if we stayed there any longer, it was going to turn ugly. How could Daniel quit, then I eat one more popsicle to secure my win AND I finish the contest AND I still lose? Impossible!

Once Clare and I made it back to our car, we noticed a guy running up behind us, trying to catch up. Once near, he said “Hey Craig! Awesome job, man! Can I talk to you for a minute?”

I rebutted “What for, man? This contest was rigged. There’s no way I should’ve lost.”

“Oh I see. That explains why you left in a hurry. I take it that you didn’t read the fine print?”

I asked, “What fine print? What are you talking about?”

“On the contest registration form you signed, it said in the fine print that the contest is for charity, and that even if you win, you relinquish your rights and accept that one of the contest committee members participating will be chosen as the winner.”

I stopped dead in my tracks, “What?”

“Yea, man. Sorry they didn’t highlight that to you, but that’s their normal practice, something that they do every year. Anyways, regardless of that, I wanted to see if you’ll be interested in a job with my company?”

Both, my wife and I, ears perked up, “Job? What job?”

“Well, I work for ‘True Pops’. Our company is a competitor to ‘Merry-sicles’, one the sponsors of this here event. I am wondering if you’ll be interested in being a spokesperson for our new popsicle brand. It’s called “Berry Pop N’s”. We haven’t worked out all the specifics yet, but we are planning to have a similar slogan as Pringle’s Bet You Can’t Eat Just One. Instead of chips, we would be talking about popsicles.”

Clare, the more boisterous one of us two, jumped in “How much and exactly what does he have to do?”

“If hired, Craig can make up to $70,000, and we just need him to participate in a few of our commercials eating as many popsicles as he can, very similar to the contest today.”

She said, “Where does he sign up?”

The True Pops representative laughed and looked at me. “So, I take it, it’s a yes, you are interested!”

“Yes!”, I replied.

“Great, meet me at this location tomorrow, and we’ll get you started and signed up.” He handed me his business card.

“Alright then, see you tomorrow and thanks.”

From that point on, the rest was history. I went on to become the spokesperson for the popsicle brand Berry Pop N’s. I was paid a flat salary of $80,000, a little more than what was originally quoted. The only bad part was that I didn’t receive any percentage of the sales. A lot of my friends and family said that I was taken advantage of because after 1-year, True Pops raked in an estimated 35 million dollars in sales off that brand alone. Many said their success had to do with the multiple funny commercials that I starred in which made me an instant household name. Everywhere I went, everyone knew my face, and everyone knew the True Pops catchy jingles.

On the other hand, as for me, I didn’t think I was taken advantage of, and I wasn’t mad at all at my pay. That job came during a time when I was at one of the lowest points in my life. The only reason why I even participated in the River Jamboree contest in the first place was because my wife and I were on the verge of being evicted from our home. I was there hoping to win the $500 prize so that I could pay our rent that month. However, when one door closed, another opened that same day. The money that I made as the spokesman for Berry Pop N’s helped us through that rough period in our lives and helped us keep a roof over our heads. In addition, it led to several other offers to do even more commercials after that, so in the end, everything worked out the way it was supposed to. No complaints from me.

Now, today, as I sit here watching today’s competition, all I can think about is how grateful I am. I had taken 1/4 of my salary as a spokesman, re-invested it, and was able to turn that into enough income to buy and open my own True Pops store. One thing, my wife Clare told me after purchasing it was “Make sure to pay your blessings forward.” So, I am here today to do just that.

The contest is almost over “5-4-3-2-1….everybody hands up.” We waited 5 minutes until the sticks were counted, and the winner was announced. The winner was some guy by the name of Richard Guiles. As I scanned the faces of the other 2 that lost, I saw Mark, Contestant #3, leaving with a long face. His wife was in tow, reminding me of Clare and I. They left and didn’t even bother to pick up the 2^nd place medal. “That’s him”, I said to myself. I got up and started running behind them, trying to catch up.

“Hey Mark! Awesome job, man! Can I talk to you for a minute?”