It's a typical Sunday morning in East Haddam. We enjoyed an early hearty breakfast of applewood-smoked bacon served alongside buttermilk pancakes, dripping with butter and syrup. After breakfast, the family piled into the four-by-four and we all buckled up for an adventurous day of errands.

First stop on the list was Shagbark Lumber and Farm Supply. At Shagbark, we can find everything from new windows to that perfect-sized nail to two-by-fours and everything in between. On our list for this stop is cat litter, a replacement screw for a cabinet knob, and some paint samples for pink stripes on our daughter's bedroom wall.

We pull into the busy parking lot. It seems as if we are not alone in our Sunday morning ritual. The lot is nearly full. Luckily, someone is pulling out as we're pulling in and we find a spot close to the entrance. From the back seat, we hear an invitation to come in for some hot popcorn.

Popcorn at the hardware store? Yes, of course. In East Haddam, anyway. Part of our ritual errand run includes a bag of free popcorn for the kids at our local hardware store. Although on this particular morning, the popcorn machine is malfunctioning and our calm morning ritual is shattered by the tears of two distraught children.

Trying to calm the kids, we usher them through the store to quickly gather the items on our list and hurry out before they can disrupt everyone else's calm. We cash out our items amidst sad little voices exclaiming, "but, why can't we have popcorn?" And, "can't they fix the machine NOW?"

With our purchases in hand, we pack the kids back into the car. As we're just about to pull out of the parking lot, one of the familiar smiling faces from behind the cash register emerges and runs out to our car. In her hand is a bag of popcorn for the kids. Upon hearing how upset the kids were about not being able to get popcorn, she decided to give them the bag one of the employees had tucked behind the register for a mid-morning snack before the machine broke down.

Like a fairy godmother, she appeared and granted our children's wish. Remind me to thank her and find out her name next time we pop in again.

Shagbark Lumber and Farm Supply is located at 1 Mount Parnassus Road
in East Haddam. For information, call (860) 873-1946.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.