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Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 03/10/2011 11:20 AM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 03/10/2011 11:21 AM
Expires: 01/01/2016 12:00 AM
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"Sharing"~by Humor Columnist, The Copper Curmudgeon
Sharing . . .When I was a kid living in Reno the girl a couple doors down from me invited me to her Birthday party. If I had been Dennis the menace . . . this girl would have been Margaret. The last Birthday party I wanted to go to was this girl’s party . . . but being five years old I was told I had to go . . . So we headed off to town to buy a present. Now I wanted to get her the big yellow Tonka dump truck but mom said the Kitchen Play Ware set was a better gift for a girl and besides it was in a big pink box. We got it home and wrapped it in more pink paper ready for tomorrow’s festivities.....
I remember playing some games at the party . . . we had cake with ice cream and then it was gift opening time. Her mother began giving her the gifts and the Birthday girl would rip open the presents as fast as she could and look for another. About five gifts into this she opened a package that was not mine but guess what it contained? Yep . . . the Kitchen Play Ware set. Now panic set in because what would she say when she opened mine?
They got to my gift almost at the end and I closed my eyes as she opened the package. Everyone in the room gasped and I opened my eyes . . . the Birthday girl stood up . . . came over to me and instead of the spoiled anger rant I expected she told me thank you.
Now to say I was confused just didn’t do it . . . as we were leaving and saying our goodbyes the Birthday girl met me outside and told me that her friend always took her favorite toys so by having two of the best gifts today she could share with her friend and still have hers to play with later . . . this was the perfect Birthday present. Sharing . . .
Now to have that mind set . . . that it was better to have two of your toys because someone would take one away always intrigued me . . . if this girl did not become a diplomatic ambassador she surely understood sharing.
My wife and I were foster parents for sixteen years and had many kids that came into our home that needed to be taught sharing. There was one young girl that arrived one evening around dinner time and was in serious need of a bath and new clothes. My wife got her cleaned up with some clothing that was practically new and sat her down at the table for a late meal.
The girl watched my wife move around the kitchen making the lunches for the kids to take to school the next day. When the pantry door opened her face lit up in a big smile. Then when she saw the refrigerator with food she looked down at her plate and kept quiet.
The next evening when I got home from work my wife took me into the bedroom where the new girl had slept. She pulled back the covers to show me a whole new pantry of food at the bottom of her bed . . . she was hoarding what we had because in her life if there was food one day you better get as much as you could because there would probably not be anymore for a week.
We decided to leave the food in her bed and I actually went to my secret candy hoard and added a Hershey’s bar. We waited a few days and then when it was just my wife and I in the kitchen with this young girl we told her we knew about her stash and it was OK. But we also wanted her to know that there would always be food in the pantry and the refrigerator. It took the better part of a month for this trust between us to really start. Sharing . . .
I met my wife in the fall of 1969 at our High School and we were married in August of 1973. I quickly learned about sharing . . . like she got my hot 1966 Mustang and I got the beater pick-up . . . she got to spend “our” money but her check was hers? And then when we traded the Mustang in for a new black Chevy step side pick-up . . . I still drove the beater pick-up. But I did get ahead on the baby thing since she breastfed ours kids all I had to do was get the screaming child bring it to her and go back to sleep. Sharing . . .
We went down to the Bay Area last weekend for opening day of Little League to see my Grandsons . . . who by the way had just finished this nasty stomach flu going around. Seems my wife knew but I didn’t get that memo . . . so Monday she goes down with this sickness and it’s brutal . . . but I’m thinking this is one time we really don’t need to share . . . but like always she and I share everything . . . and it was my turn yesterday. Sharing . . .
I know . . . just sit here and be quiet . . .
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