When I walked into my job at Ellyn Bridal Saturday morning my boss asked ,“Jessica, can you and your mom please start the opening bid on a tea cup chihuahua for me? Make sure to tell your parents that she is worth 4,000 dollars and the bidder will start at 50 dollars.” She was in charge of the Live Auction for the Cinderella Ball, I was attending that evening to support our longtime family friends.
“I would love too,” I replied. My mom, dad, and I had been invited to the Cinderella ball to sponsor the Nutcracker. I was so excited! I got to wear a fancy gold dress and gold three-inch heels! When we arrived, I saw my friend Lauren in her white gown. With her was a dog that weighed about one pound and her breed was a teacup chihuahua. I immediately walked over and learned her name was, "Sophia." At that moment I had an inclination I would be coming home with that dog, but I thought I had unrealistic expectations, she's worth 4,000 dollars. She had a bright blue bow tied around her neck. She looked so precious but petrified by all the new smells and people coming up to her petting her.
My dad took my mom's hand and ushered led us to our seats. Moments later the appetizers appeared. I savored every bite, trying to ensure I wouldn't spill on my dress, but I had to keep looking around the room to find the chihuahua. Later, we were served our entrees of medium rare, juicy, steak, mashed potatoes and fresh green beans. As I was about to savor another bite of juicy steak I saw the dog was being passed around from table to table. I continued to talk with my parents and friends until I saw the dog was at our table. I stroked her soft black fur and I thought I never want this moment to end.
Then our dessert came! It was a warm apple crisp with a homemade vanilla ice cream on top! That is my favorite dessert of all time, but that night I wasn’t focused on the delicate dessert. My eyes were on the little princess.
After we finished our dessert the bidding began. As the bidding was going on, I noticed that the bids seemed extremely low. The event was supposed to take place two weeks ago, but got canceled due to a gigantic snow storm. That meant several people who were planning to come weren't able to attend. So, when they finally did the chihuahua, I became hopeful that we would get a furry new friend!
The bidder stated, now the final action item of the night, a one pound tea cup chihuahua. "Let’s start the bid it $100. Going once for “$100,” my mom raised her hand and then put it down and went back to talking at our table, but I watched wanting to see who would win the dog. Silently praying that no one else would bid. They bidder asked, “$200?” No one raised their hand. The bidder had a shocked look on his face but asked “150?” Again, no one raised their hand. I could feel a gigantic grin growing on my face. "Sold for $100 to the woman in black at table 8!” I looked up at the ceiling and thought thank you, Lord.
But, then I realized my parents didn’t realize we had a new companion because they were busy talking to our friends. I interrupted them and said, “We won the dog.”
My dad turned to me and harshly said, “Jessica, don’t interrupt, wait what did you just say?”
I almost shouted, “We won the dog.” My dad’s jaw dropped and his face made a perfect O, he was shocked.
Then he said, “Sweetheart don’t get your hopes up, I’m sure that someone else raised their hand and you didn’t realize it. I mean there’s no way that dog didn’t go for more money.”
I noticed that my mom was gone, a few minutes later I saw her reappear with something in her arms. At that moment my dad and I knew I was right, we had won a new member of our family.
My mom said, “She was a bargain, normally these dogs go for a lot more!” As we left I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!
When we got home and showed my brother the surprise, he was jealous he wasn’t there to see the bidding take place. We decided to name her Tee Maria, because she has a "T" on her stomach and that way she would match our golf theme. We had Labradoodle Bogey (one over par) and a Ragdoll cat Bridie (one under par) as well.
