Working the late shift at the SageMart

Back when Jon and I first got married and combined our names to become the Sage-Martinson family, we didn't really know what we were doing. We knew others had hyphenated before us, but no one told us about the tedious, mind-numbing delays this little symbol would cause us. We didn't realize that most government agency computers were not up to speed and ready for the hyphen. We didn't know that before long we'd be using our long, tedious name in various formats for the 1, 372 usernames that come with being a citizen of this electronic age. For our first email address we tried to shorten it down and lose the hyphen. We became: sagemart@something.com. A friend emailed us and said, "Everytime I send a message to your address I think that a 'SageMart' sure sounded like a place you should be able to buy wisdom." The tone of this message made me think that this particular friend had never encountered any type of enlightenment in a reply from our particular SageMart. Frankly, I doubt many ever have, or ever will, but her comment did conjure up an image of an old run down market at the edge of the (virtual) town, where, if you waited in line long enough, a little nugget of wisdom might come your way. It changed my attitude about our name. And ever since I've been hopefully waiting for wisdom to fill the shelves here at the SageMart, so we can really get down to the business of growing ever more wise and sage-like. So far the stock has been perenially low, and I always feel like I'm working the late shift, with nary a customer in sight. I thought that perhaps after we increased the world-wide population of Sage-Martinsons by 100% by having two boys, I had an ensured customer base. But more often than not, they are the clerks, and my husband and I are at the late-night drive-up window receiving a small package of wisdom from the mouths of our boys.