The Devil Is In the Details

This year two of my three are selling Girl Scout cookies. Officially, the sale starts January 3rd, but over the Christmas holiday the budding saleswomen are allowed to sell to family and friends. Unfortunately, in this house, whether it is Girl Scout cookies, or a schoolwide fundraiser, having two motivated sellers, going for selling incentives, pushing two separate order forms, is a nightmare.

Nana placed the first order with my Junior. The world was happy. This being her first year selling, the Brownie was none the wiser. Even so, when we were getting ready to visit with our Aunts, I said to the Brownie, "Go get your order form." The Junior heard me.

The wail, "What if she orders five boxes, Nana only ordered four?"

Knowing this was coming I tried to dissuade her worries. "It will all even out. Don't worry."

She didn't hear me, or maybe my advanced college French lessons kicked in and I was speaking in a foreign language, for the wailing escalated. "She's going to sell more than me. I want to take my order form."

Still at def-calm 2 I tried again -- this time in simple English, "Don't worry. Daddy and I haven't placed our order yet." We are notorious for ordering five or more cases... Being the past cookie mom it was my job to round the troop order to whole cases. So we'd wait to place our order until the end.

Still not hearing, she shoved the order form into my face, and demanded. "Write your order now."

I countered, now at def-calm 4, "Go see your father. He'll settle this."

And he did, just as Solomon settled the fighting over the baby. Each order will be split down the middle. Of course, this record nightmare falls in my lap with an unshakably heavy sigh: A monster ordering mess of mammoth proportion.

During the visit no orders were taken, no boxes divided right down to the crumb or calorie. The girls completely forgot to ask their Aunts about cookies. No real loss; as we can always contact them by phone or email. But in the quiet, right before bedtime and Santa I told my Junior, "You know with these cookies, the devil is in the details."

"You are so worried that the Brownie might sell one cookie more than you, that you forgot that your father and I are keeping an eye on your cookie goal. We've never let you miss it in the past, and wouldn't let you miss it now."

And as I kissed her goodnight and shut off the light I was thinking about that phrase, "The devil is in the details." Usually reserved for implementing a highly structured plan, it really does apply to everyday life, whether your selling cookies or not.

Psssssttt..... Wanna buy some girl scout cookies?