Jill's Journal: ‘Jill’s not going to be happy ...’

It was just before 5 o’clock last Thursday when the door to the Brandon Valley Journal opened and in stepped a bandit of pint-sized sleuths Will, 12, Tommy, 8, and Margo, 6, and their dad, Aaron Carroll. I’m always excited to see them come through the door of the Journal, as they do often. Each fall, they stop by with the “Pick the Pigskin” weekly entries, and when a coloring contest is being offered, they’re some of the first to bring in their artwork.

But when the Carroll crew came to the Journal last week, the first thing Aaron said, “Jill’s not going to be happy about this …”

What he was referencing was they had been searching for our ninth “Finding Brandon’s Christmas Spirit” ornament, and crazily so, found it off of just a single clue. In case you were wondering, there were only a couple of lines in that clue that would have directed you to Aspen Park and First National Band Stadium: 

“I am some place where you and I have been before,

“So, think back in time, and then think some more.”

That was it.

But they remembered the year I slid the ornament into the end of the yellow tubing that lines the top of the outfield fence on Field E. While they didn’t find it that year, they were oh, so close, Will reminded me.

“It said ‘old spot,’” Will said.

Aaron said they fanned out across the ballfields in search of the ornament, and after about 45 minutes on the hunt, they decided Pioneer Park – the site of our very first ornament – would be their next hunting grounds.

That was … until my buddy Will – “hopped the fence” and found the prized ornament tucked behind signage attached to the gate next to the home team dugout at FNB.

Of course, I had to ask Will what led him to “hopping the fence?”

“You really think that I was going to go over that fence?” I jokingly quizzed?

He nodded in approval.

And so, I have to thank him for the confidence he has in this ol’ gal’s flexibility.

With no issue of climbing over the infield fence, Will said he thought that I may have placed it on one of the bases or the pitching mound.

“So, I went in there and dusted off the bases and then I went to the pitcher’s mound,” he tells me, only to discover that the ornament was not there.

It was on his trip back over the fence that Will “Watson” spied the ornament nestled between the sign and the fence gate grid.

All the while Will was grinning from ear to ear, brother Tommy was pouting that he wasn’t the one to discover the ornament. His biggest worry, as I learned, is he was unsure if Will and his dad were going to share the prize package.

I assured him that they likely would be sharing it with their entire family, which includes mom, Emily, who was at home preparing their evening meal. 

“I got these guys out of the house quick, and we went down there, and I tried to tire them out and the dog out,” Aaron shares of the strategy. “We were walking back to the truck, and Will’s like, ‘I already looked over there, dad.’ And then he goes, ‘but I did find this,’ and then he pulled it out of his coat. When we got in the truck, I said, ‘Jill is not going to be happy.”

Aaron said our annual “Finding Brandon’s Christmas Spirit” ornament hunt has become a Carroll family tradition.

“It’s one of the best times of the year. We look forward to it,” he said.

Although they acknowledged that the first clue was ‘pretty vague’, I guess when it comes to snooping for the “good stuff” this time of year, just like Survivor, I was “out-witted” and “out-played” by the Carroll family.   

And yes, while my “balloon” popped when they walked in the door with big smiles and the ornament in hand, I couldn’t help but be happy for the fun they found in “Finding Brandon’s Christmas Spirit.”

Next week, we’ll recognize the Carroll family and our local businesses that contributed to a great prize package.