Bittersweet Lessons of Life

There are no recipes today, just my thoughts after a very bittersweet day with Emma.  It reminded me of the scene in Sense and Sensability where Elinor Dashwood is talking to Colonel Brandon about her sister MaryAnn and how MaryAnn would be much better off as soon as she learned "the ways of the world".  Colonel Brandon's response to her was this.  "She is purely unspoiled, and the longer she goes without, learning the ways of the world, as you put it the better."  Don't we wish we could keep our little kids safe and happy forever?  If you've seen the movie you know that MaryAnn Dashwood's heart was broken and then stomped on and that is what happened to Emma yesterday.

Emma has a fun little friend who is a few years older, but the two of them get along perfectly.  On most days after school you can see these two riding their cute cruiser bikes up and down our rode for hours.  Emma's bike is lime green with hot pink rims, and McKenna's is baby blue with pink rims.  They look so cute together.  Yesterday the two decided to meet at the DI after school for some treasure hunting.  Emma has never been there and McKenna loves it. So a new adventure for Emma awaited.  The two girls had a grand time trying everything in the store on.  Emma picked out the funnest old lady dress, and the tallest boots you've ever seen.  We had a fun photo shoot in mind with these treasures.  As they were talking over their clothes Emma realized she left her wallet in the dressing room. They hadn't moved more than 5 feet from the dressing rooms and a new lady was now in there.  I looked under the door and could see her wallet and the lady promptly kicked it out......totally empty. 

 Emma had about $65 of her hard earned babysitting money in there and it was gone.  She immediately burst into tears, and I had to really pull myself together to not cry either.  We looked around for the little lady who had been in the dressing room right after Emma and she quickly came up to us with a wad of money in her hand.  "I found your money."  she said, but she had kept the $50 bill.  

There isn't a lot you can do.  I thought about stripping her down to her nothings, and grabbing that $50 bill that I know was there somewhere, but you can't.  We left the store with nothing, and a sour taste in our mouths from the adventure.

  I have learned some great words of wisdom 

from my 8th grade math teacher.  One of those tidbit is, "If life was fair we'd all be fairies!" 

This doesn't make you feel better, but it is the truth.  Life is hard sometimes.   Of course we both cried the whole way  home.  We talked about the lesson we learned that day, and quickly realized that at least it was just money.  Money is easily replaced with a little work, but say a little brother was taken, or someone got a terrible sickness.

  Those are hard things to have taken from you.  Emma now knows that not all people are honest or kind and sometimes those people may even want to take her most precious things.  She must guard her "Stuff"  carefully.  It could be her money, her integrity, her virtue.....all of those great YW values.  

As Maria VonTapp put it, "when the Lord closes a door, 

he always opens a window."  There is always a silver lining on a cloudy day, and that's what good friends are for.  McKenna, her big sis, and granny all stopped by after and brought the outfit that Emma had left at the DI, and of course Grandma Orton couldn't let Emma go without her hard earned babysitting money back.  

There we all were again out on the lawn crying.  Tears of gratitude for the kindness of really great friends.  Emma's second lesson yesterday was of generosity, and gratitude.  Em has a kind heart and tender spirit, and I am glad her hard lesson could be tempered with love.

  She doesn't need to know how hard the world can be yet.  

Heck she's only 12.  There's plenty of time for that.