Everyone has a bad day every now and then, but there are some really bad days that leave you feeling disillusioned with the world. Poor Sam had one of those today, the poor guy. Isn’t he underaged for this? I think he’ll always remember this day, and I will, too. Ugh.
In kindergarten each child gets a “good note” for having a well behaved day. After accumulating 10 of them, the kid gets to go to the treasure box and pick out the toy of his/her choice. (You’re not allowed to look in the box before having the 10 notes.) Well, a friend of Sam’s went to the treasure box yesterday and told him there was this great Lego mouse in there with some sort of really cool helmet.
Sam was all excited this morning and so ready to go to the treasure box today. When he got off the bus 20 minutes late, though, he looked just heartbroken with flushed cheeks and on the verge of tears. “What happened?” I asked. He said that when he got to the treasure box he looked and looked through it, but he couldn’t find the Lego mouse anywhere. There wasn’t anything else in there that he wanted, so he took a plastic Army guy just to take something.
As it turns out, this “friend” had actually taken that Lego mouse for himself the day before and lied to Sam when telling him it was still in there. “He’s not my friend any more. He tricked me just to be mean!” he lamented. Ooomph. Oh, Dr. Spock, what do I say now now? A couple of four letter words came to mind, but I said, “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. I bet you’re so disappointed! You worked so hard!” I wanted to cry myself and go wring that kid’s neck, of course.
When it rains, it pours, and it was literally pouring out. It turns out they had a really good excuse for being 20 minutes late in addition to the rain. The bus had broken down right in the middle of a busy intersection! They were stuck in the middle of the road for a long time with traffic all backed up behind them. The gutsy bus driver got out, set up cones, and directed traffic around the bus, which I’m sure is not in her job description. (Big Christmas present for her!)
Eventually another bus with another driver picked them up and drove the rest of the route home. The kids all looked pretty shellshocked, even the older ones. Sam said one girl was crying because she thought she’d never see her mother again. Anybody have a hanky?
So what do I do to rectify the situation? Should I let him take the hard knock as part of life or do I buy him another toy and try to make it all better? Something in the middle seemed like the right thing to do, bringing the focus back to his good work. Since I’d already promised him that I’d take him this weekend to buy the Bionicle set that he’d saved up for, I told him we’d go today as a reward because of his 10 good notes.
Needless to say, he perked right on up. Lo and behold, as we walked into Toys R Us, we ran into one of our favorite families like an oasis in the Sahara. Just seeing them made us smile. Sam is great friends with the three kiddos, and Daddy Mac and I are equally great friends with the parents. We haven’t gotten to see them much lately because the kids go to different schools.
Within minutes Sam had the Lego of his dreams in his hands (today’s dreams anyway) and good friends to share in his excitement, and I got to catch up with my friend. Sam’s “friend” was long forgotten. Real friends are the best treasure of all.
LibbY