Garrison took his fifty cent piece with glitter glue on it to school one day. I didn't have a clue. He came home with four trading cards: three baseball and one football. These were HUGE treasures to him and he carried them around, lost them, mourned for them, and joyfully discovered them again. He was the envy of Simon. I was a bit miffed that he spent his tooth fairy money and got conned by some kid of the bus. . . but it was his money and totally worth fifty cents to him. I'm over it.
Then, a few days later I waited in our driveway and watched as my boys got off the bus. I love to see them get off and eagerly await for them to run through the Good Judge's (our neighbor) yard to me. We greet each other with hugs and kisses (I'm still allowed--Yeah!). This particular day, something was different. While Simon ran to me I watched as Garrison seemed to be trying to get the attention of a bigger kid. The kid obviously didn't want anything to do with Garrison, and though I couldn't hear what was happening, Garrison's body language was very clear. The older kid walked the other way and with a hanging head, Garrison began to walk my way. He turned around a couple of times, but finally made his way to me. Oh, this mama's heart was ready to break. I think I may have had tears in my eyes. I knew something was wrong in my boy's heart.
He looked at me and then tried to wipe away his tears. I tried to hug him, but he broke away a bit. . . and then returned to me and buried his head in my stomach. Have I mentioned how much I love him? Hmmm. I do. Tons. And tons.
We chatted a bit in the garage and I determined that we needed a serious conversation in the house, in the bedroom, by ourselves. We went inside, headed to the bedroom, and I prayed that Penny wouldn't get into too much trouble and that I would have the right words for me son.
See, this older boy had baseball cards and he wouldn't give any to Garrison even though Garrison had asked nicely. We talked about how this boy didn't have to give him cards. We talked about how Christmas was coming up. We talked about how Garrison could earn his own money. I held him and he cried. I was thankful that we could learn lessons together. I wondered what other things he'd learn on the bus. It was a good time. I'm thankful that God gave it to us. I also made Garrison promise that he wouldn't ask this boy for any more of his cards. (Lots of lessons which I'm sure we'll revisit.)
So Garrison's love for trading cards (the boys call them day/gay cards--we are working on this issue!) hasn't waned, so Gary and I have been looking for ways the kids can earn some money to visit the dollar store. They can pick our their own cards with their own money. I won't even go into Simon's feelings about Garrison's cards "which he won't share when I ask him nicely". There has been some envy here. Ah....
Are you confused yet? Following? Good.
The kids earned a dollar each. They were so excited. I warned them that they needed to put their dollar in a safe place. SAFE! PLACE! Garrison carried his dollar around, showed it off to our dinner guests, had it by his plate, and promptly lost it. Pure grief. Seriously, this boy was grieving. I wouldn't give him another dollar. He would have an opportunity to earn another dollar. He earned it yesterday by shoveling rocks and today was the day. [On a side note, both Simon and Noel both lost their dollars as well. They did find them though. They both thought that their bed would be a safe place. Um, no.]
Today I took everyone to the dollar store. Simon found his trading cards and carried them around the store. Noel found a gummy sucker (sarcastic Yeah!). Garrison. . . after two weeks of talking about these cards, of working extra hard to earn a dollar, after telling so many folks about it. . . chose a Christmas stocking.
I'm puzzled. Although, some light may be shed on the situation from this comment in the car. "Mom, we can hang up this stocking next to my other stocking and you could put stuff into both of them." This child might just be brilliant.
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