Saturday, October 4, 2008

34: Worth it

Hubby and I told my son, C, that he could not go to a Star Wars Costume birthday party that was this afternoon. It all came down to two things:

1: This was a costume party (and we didn't have a costume)
2: We didn't have any extra money for a gifts

Okay, so I guess it really just came down to one thing: Money.

I had about $10 of "me money" in my pocket to last about two weeks. This is for lunch with co-workers and etc. Not much, but that's what I had. So, last night, I saw my son peering at the Star Wars Costume Party invitation, and the mommy in me just sort of took over. I was determined to make this happen--and I had about $10 to do so. Yippee! I had money. Who cares what it is supposed to be for, right? The fact is, I needed it and I had it.

I think that if he had whined and complained about it, I wouldn't have been moved. But, he quietly accepted our decision with such a good attitude that it sort of broke my heart. When I told him that we were going to make it work, he was simply delighted.

So, this morning--just after 10 a.m.--I loaded the car with my daughter, oldest son and the 2-year-old. (The baby stayed home, napping, with hubby.) "Look, we don't have very much money," I told my son. "But, it's going to be perfect!"

We had to have a talk about money being tight right now...about daddy not working and about being really careful how we spend, especially right now. That was hard (for me.) Not for the kids, though. They don't really care as long as we're all just living life together.

We hit some yard sales--and found nothing, except for a few plastic dinosaurs we picked up for E. Then, I decided we'd hit GoodWill--my go-to store when I need something fast and cheap. I was delighted to find a cape for $3. And, the lovely thing about boys: That was it. He was thrilled. And we were done.

We went to Target to buy a gift and with less than $5 to spend on the gift, we picked this up and filled it with a bag of candy. The total was just over $4. Again, my son was thrilled.



Just after 3 p.m., I was unloading the kids at the party. My kids had a blast and when we were done at the party, we drove around Gainesville for a little while--stopped at one of our favorite parks and walked a mile (with baby in arms and toddler in hand) around the park.

Later, we drove by our old apartment on campus--where I lived when I was a student at the University of Florida. Ahhh--the memories. The kids have the best memories of that place. We used to have so much fun, going on walks, going to the museum, seeing the alligators sunning themselves just across the street from us at Lake Alice.

We have really great memories of that time in our lives. "I wish I could go back in time and do it again," my son said.

Well, I hope he'll think the same thing in a few years about our life now. I think he will. We had so much fun today. Not much money, but lots of fun. I ended up spending my "me money" on my kids. But, I do that every time I get money. I always spend it on them.

I can't help myself. I'd rather see my kid go to a birthday party that he had been thinking about for weeks than ... have lunch with my grown-up friends. And I say grown-up friends, because if I am not spending money eating out with my grown-up friends, then I am picking up the tab for every (little) one--at Chic-Fil-A.

You know, I truly love motherhood. You can never give too much. There is always more to give.

Oh ... and I have some pictures for you. But, it will have to be tomorrow since Blogger is misbehaving tonight!

2 comments:

Stace said...

I'm so behind on blogging and posting but i just love stopping in and knowing you are doing well with the world and your kids, this post almost made me cry. :) xoxox

Suzy A. Richardson said...

Staci!
You are such a sweetie! I love to hear from you!