I was totally surprised when my wife asked if she could try her hand at writing this week’s article. It seems she had her own eye-opening experience with Horizon Goodwill that she wanted to share. She had only two conditions:
- In no way, shape or form was I allowed to edit her writing for content or grammar.
- I would have to promise to share any positive feedback she received from her writing, ammunition she could use against me for when I claim to be the best storyteller in the family.
I pinky promised and told her to have at it, as I went to my man cave to see what baseball game I could lose myself in. So, with no further preamble, take it away Missy!
How I Helped My Kids Get Back To School And Taught My Husband A Lesson, All While Helping Others Get Back To Work
I guess I should begin with the obvious, I’m no writer, but John does tend to pout if I don’t read all of his articles, so I kind of understand the process. Is it just me or does he always paint this image that I’m some kind of hard-to-please wife who consistently rains on his parade? Let me set the record straight: I’m a caring spouse, loving mother and family accountant for all household expenses, which leads nicely to my most recent revelation regarding Goodwill Industries®.(How’s that for a nice lead in, John??)
You may know from my husband’s past ramblings, we recently moved to the area and donated quite a few things to Goodwill prior to loading the moving truck. We found we simply didn’t need all of the household products that accumulated over the years. Our seven year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, however, had a harder time when it came to downsizing the clothes in her closet. Not one to argue, at least with her, we ended up bringing her entire wardrobe with us, which, in retrospect, wasn’t the smartest thing to do!
Just this past weekend I finally convinced her to sit down with me and go through all the clothes in her room so we could make space for that time of year every parent loves: Back To School! Kaitlyn has been somewhat of a fashionista since birth, and I swear her birthday and chore money was burning a hole in her pocket! Every day she would ask when we were going to the mall. Finally, I told her I didn’t care how much money she saved, she was not going to purchase any new school clothes until she cleared out her closet. Her response? “I will if you help me!” What’s a mom to do?
Do you know how easily a seven year old can get frustrated? 75% of the clothes she tried on no longer fit her! Why did I let her convince me to bring all of these clothes with her? Kaitlyn modeled a pair of jeans I purchased last August that looked more like capris pants!
“Mom, let’s donate this stuff where Daddy took the computers, then we can go to the mall and fill up the space with new things that fit!”
Well, I liked the first part of her idea….
It was bittersweet as we filled bags and boxes with clothing. I watched outfits she used to wear constantly being packed away, but, I must admit, I became a bit uneasy as more space became freed up in her closet. If she thought her $54.00 was going to fill up her closet she was going to be in for a real life lesson real quick! From the doorway my college-aged son snapped me out of my trance.
“Hey, I’ve got some clothes to donate, too. And what about all those size 38 pants of dad’s that he can’t fit into anymore?”
“Corey, what do you mean? All of his pants are in his closet. He could never squeeze into a size 38!”
“Oh….right….I guess you weren’t supposed to know….He asked me to put his skinny clothes in my closet, until he lost the weight.”
I had to grin. “Go get ‘em, and meet me and your sister in the car!”
Who did he think he was fooling, saving pants he knows darn well he’s never going to fit in? I can still hear him, standing in our bedroom back in Pittsburgh: “Missy, the closets at the new place aren’t that big, you have to donate some of these clothes!”
Upon arriving at our local Goodwill Store, Corey, Kaitlyn and I gathered our donations and brought them inside. What took place next was simply amazing! I was completely stunned! What did I experience? Well, John told me blog articles can’t be too long, so I guess I will need to save the rest of the story for the next entry, or whatever he calls it! Let me just say this, Kaitlyn and Corey made me extremely proud!