Wednesday, December 13, 2006

He is his father's son



Not that I wasn't already aware of this detail, but today it was made so very clear to me. Jacob, my precious almost 6 year old first born son, showed his true colors today as we walked up and down every aisle of Hobby Lobby.

A little background is necessary. You see, my dear husband Brian has never met a piece of "stuff" he didn't like. He loves garage sales. He drives slowly by impressive piles of trash, I mean piles of unwanted items sitting near the curb. He salvages little things from just about anywhere. In his resourcefulness, I know he thinks, "I might find a use for this someday." Brian is a keeper. But I am a thrower-awayer - quite a ruthless one at that! There was a day years ago that his "saving" bothered me. But I must confess he has rubbed off on me. I don't like to pass up garage sales and often times I find myself glancing at those piles by the curb. I have even been known to rescue a few things. And, I must say, I have been amazed at the times when he HAS found a use for some something he has squirreled away. Nowadays we strive for balance and understanding - it works. :)

Now on to the Jacob part.

As we trudged through the aisles, unbeknownst to his distracted Mommy, Jacob had been starting a collection. I knew he was telling me something about something, but, sad to say, I wasn't listening real well. So towards the end of our shopping trip, I noticed his bag o' stuff. As we made our way around, Jacob had been collecting Hobby Lobby trash! A bent paperclip. A rubber band. A stray artificial leaf abandoned on the floor. A few miscellaneous tags. A handy plastic sack. Several nifty squares of corrugated cardboard. Other pieces of brown paper and cardboard. The discarded paper insert to a roll of scotch tape. And a wooden button. I think he also found a penny.

I KID YOU NOT!!!!!

He was thrilled with himself. He couldn't wait to get home, sort through his treasures and "make something out of them." How priceless! And he did just that. When we got home, he immediately dumped out all his finds on the kitchen table and set to work. It kept him occupied for quite a while. Even Nicole was interested to see what he had collected.

To borrow a little bit from Mastercard and a cute thing Amy wrote the other day:

The cost of Jacob's need to collect and store away: a new house
The cost of Hobby Lobby trash: $0
The cost of smiles and joy at the wonder of such wonderful trash: PRICELESS


Jacob, I love you terribly much - every bit!

1 comment:

He who wears the most black wins. said...

So sweet. I have a brother EXACTLY like that. You warmed my heart with thoughts of him today. :)