I Won...I Won...

The phone rings, and I see on the caller ID that it is the Philadelphia Inquirer. Of course, I am thinking another random solicitation for me to buy the newspaper, but I answer it anyway. OMG...I won...I am always entering random contests that are offered in various newspapers. Sometimes I win...nothing ever that exciting. My biggest wins usually consist of tickets to a play or event in the local area. The lady on the other end of the phone confirms that I have won a family four pack of tickets to Thomas the Train: A Circus Comes to Town. I am not really sure how excited I am about this...the website describes it as a 90-minute interactive presentation. I am personally thinking 90-minutes of kids screaming and running in the aisles, but who am I to judge.

A free family four pack...hmmm...how exactly free is it. I ask the lady on the other end what is included with my free family four pack. As she tries to stifle her laugh, she tells me what I expected to hear, but was hoping I wouldn't...nothing. With that in mind, let's try and add up what free really means.

There's parking...which is NEVER free...that will probably set me back twenty bucks...there is also food, because we all know kids can not sit for ninety minutes without something to eat and drink...that will cost me another ten to fifteen bucks...and there is always the souvenir shop on the way out...you know the one with the most expensive junk you have ever laid your eyes upon...the souvenir every kid just has to have or their life won't be complete...only to end up as yesterday's discarded trash once they get home. Okay, now that I have put free into perspective, I might just have to pass on those tickets.