So after a great 3-day retreat at a fabulous resort in wild, wonderful West Virginia, where the main topic was building intimacy in marriage, my wife up and left me. Run offt. Isn’t that a fine “how do you do?”
Actually, Kim headed down to beautiful, bold Bedford, PA for the yearly yard sale at her parents’ campground. She’s not buying more clutter for the house; she’s trying to get rid of some of the stuff that we’ve accumulated over the past year or 20. That’s right, we’ll be married 20 years this June. Pretty amazing, I know. We think it’s going to last, too…
Kim took off this evening, trusting me to get the kids up and off to school in the morning. That’s usually her task, but she gave me written instructions, and a good pep talk before she left.
I don’t like my life too much when she’s not around. Every spring break she takes the kids and heads for warmer parts of the country under the guise of visiting family. That’s the worst week of my year. But since she left the kids with me, and because it’s only for one day, I think I’ll manage.
We’re not totally decided on where the huge bags of money that she makes will go. Lilly and I are trying to cover our expenses for our June trip to the Dominican Republic, and we’re starting to raise funds for our next adoption adventure. Or we could take the family out for ice cream. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how much cash the good people of Bedford are willing to shell out for our junk previously-owned household items.
We’ve got a little jar that’s sitting on our hutch that we’re using as a piggy bank for the Ethiopian adoption fund. Annabelle had her wallet out today, and I was watching her out of the corner of my eye. She’s been pretty tight with her fundage. There have been a number of opportunities for her to buy things with her own money. Just about every time she’s looked at the item, looked at the price, looked at Kim, and put the item back on the shelf. She’s very disciplined. But today she slipped a dollar into the piggy bank, unaware that I was peeking. I told her that she didn’t have to do that, and then I asked her why she did it. Her face lit up in a huge grin, and she said:
It’s for the boys.
I love the fact that our children are learning to prioritize their resources. She won’t drop a dime on some shiny toy or hair thingies, but she’s brimming with excitement to build our adoption fund. The kids have put more than 25 bucks in the jar since last week’s car wash!
Now that, my friends, is cool.
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