Dave, Brigden, and Harris took off this morning on an ice fishing day trip and left Halen, Bevan, and I for a girl's day of our own. After chilling at home for a while we decided to head to a particular store for stylish girl clothing. Halen has been wanting to visit this store for quite a while and was looking forward to our shopping trip. At first she mentioned she knew we were only going to look around because of our very limited budget, but upon arriving I surprised her and let her know this shopping trip was a special "girls day" occassion and she would be able to buy one reasonably priced item of her choice. She was very excited and overwhelmed.
We shopped for quite a while trying to find the right item to buy and after trying things on in the dressing room she started to look at price tags. It was in this moment that I was once again reminded she is really a young adult looking like a young girl. Upon realizing her favorite item, a beautiful sweater, cost more than we've ever spent on one item for her she started to back pedal and explain she didn't need any of the items and that she didn't have to get anything at all. I had tried to be really careful in my words concerning money, but she is so sensitive and insightful, I didn't have to say anything.
She asked if she could get her other favorite item, a jacket, instead which was half the cost of the first item and said that she didn't really need any of the other items anyway. I started to cry and told her that I wanted to buy her many beautiful things that she wanted, but wasn't able to financially. I also explained that it broke my heart we weren't able to buy nice things for her over the years, but that it wasn't because we didn't want to, but because we couldn't. She graciously took the hug and tears, grabbed her jacket, and walked out with as big a smile as possible. She is truly a blessing!
While the financial difficulties we've encountered have been very difficult, I amazingly wouldn't trade them for such wisdom in my child. Of, course, that's easier to say when they're over, eh?
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