Chocolate Milk (or the lack of it)

This Friday was my nephew, Brian’s birthday. He turned 21 in the Bentonville, Arkansas. This year I sent him a Subway gift card since I read earlier in the week that there are more Subway locations than McDonald’s. When he gets home to Maple Valley, he may decide to use the card on a ferry. Yes, the article said there was a Subway restaurant located on a Seattle ferry. And hopefully, if he uses this card for breakfast, I hope Subway has chocolate milk. After all, the gift card is a birthday present.
Brian’s 2nd birthday marked the start of the terrible two’s. It was a bad birthday from the moment he woke and went downhill quick. I called early in the morning, I hope before work, because in those days, I didn’t have a cell phone the size of Washington State. (where Brian’s family had just located.) Laura, Brian’s mom and my younger sister, answered the phone. I could hear a very loud Brian crying his heart out over chocolate milk. The milk didn’t spill, there was none in the house and she wasn’t willing to make a 20 minute trip to Albertson’s to get just a carton of chocolate milk. Laura told me there was a transportation problem either because the only car went to work with her husband or the station wagon was a gas hog. Before I hung up, I told Laura to wish Brian a happy birthday (wishful thinking at this point) and that I would try later. Brian was in no mood to talk to anyone, let alone some voice in the telephone. Brian’s mood improved only slightly when I called back that evening. He had stopped screaming, but he was still in a sour mood and would not talk to me. (I hope he let his Grandmas give him birthday wishes.) Starting a day off without chocolate milk is not a good way to start a toddler’s day.
Brian’s next birthday went better, he did allow me to wish him a happy birthday. I think Laura got a little bit wiser or maybe Brian learned a lesson. Sometimes when I write on Brian’s birthday card, I'll say something about chocolate milk. I don’t think Brian cares so much now if he wakes up to chocolate milk or not, he’s probably content with most anything he gets on his birthday, even a greeting. But still, I hope Elder Davis of the Tulsa Oklahoma Mission got chocolate milk on his birthday, because I wouldn’t be surprised that the Subway gift card arrived late. It’s getting tougher to remember all those birthdays.