"It's a Bird....It's a Plane....."
by Sonya (5 Comments) 
No; it's not a bird and it's not a plane; It's just my son flying out of his sneakers during track, apparently.
After school yesterday, Elliott said to me, "Mom, Mrs. Zwarg (the gym teacher) said to me; 'tell your Mom to get you some gym shoes that don't fall off your feet when you run." to which I replied; "your sneakers keep falling off your feet when you're running?".
I thought about it and it went like this: I have no money for that (considering all the debt we are paying off etc. etc. yada yada). And so, instead of acting impulsively, spending money I don't have, I waited a day.
Today, Elliott tells me after track (matter-of-factly): "I ran the fastest today!" to which Abigail adds, "yeah! he ran right out of both his sneakers, fell down and then kept on running in his socks, and I beat a 4th grader today."
(aaaargh)....... I decided to take Elliott to the second-hand shop after dinner tonight with $4 in my wallet and a sit-n-spin that Elliott outgrew a few years ago. Maybe they'll buy it. And just maybe there will be a pair of sneakers exactly his size that he likes for not too much money.
It's the little things in life that mean so much! They bought the sit-n-spin for $3.30 and his sneakers cost $4.50 and Elliott thinks they are pretty cool - Shaq in black and white.......exactly his size. he ran in the store to show me how they worked. And apparently, the petty cash (which was anything but petty to me) turned out to be enough =-)
So, now Elliott can keep on flying, but not OUT of his sneakers.
COMMENTS:
Looks like all the planets aligned! It's great that you found what you needed. My son is 3 and I get a lot of his stuff from the consignment shop. It makes me feel good to help extend the life of items rather than just buy new.
Psychology of money is a really mystical thing to me. I find that when we have no money and things are dire, I don't really want anything or have the desire to shop. But when I know there's money that can be spent, I get a long list of things in my head that I want. I'm currently trying to pay down debt as well and the hardest part is resisting creating new debt by using the open credit that we just paid down! It's the little wins that build to big change.
Kara
Apr 29, 2008
Biography material. Wish I could've been there for the *test run*. One thing you guys can account for, you're teaching him some persistence. Running out of his shoes! Amazing.
luke
Apr 29, 2008
yes;.....persisitence =-). If it had been a couple of years ago, we would have heard Elliott respond like this to his sneaker dilemma: "i quit! I hate evweeefing and evweeebody!" So, he's making strides (no pun intended =-)
sonya
Apr 30, 2008
Sonya, I know what it's like to feel rich with $5 in my pocket. It's only been a few months since I got out of credit card debt myself. I'm glad to hear about your success yesterday with Elliott's shoes. Even knowing God is real and working in our lives, it is still strange and surprising (to me) when things work out in such a seemingly serendipitous way. I'm also happy to hear that both youngsters have a positive attitude.
Mike
Apr 30, 2008
Paul shared this with me the other day. I love your family and i think about you kids and pray for you as often as i can. I think you're doing an amazing job, and i can't wait for fantastic things to happen in your lives (on top of the already magical things that are happening that may not seem very magical at the moment).
sh4wn
May 01, 2008