When You've Lost It....

These pictures are not taken for the following story, so to say, just thought I'd throw in some cute pictures of my kids....

I figure if you're bored with the story, you can at least enjoy the pictures.

Here goes my story:


Sometimes, even in mid-sentence, I get can get distracted-hey look, a shiny penny-and can forget some of life's essentials, like having $150 cash in my jeans pocket while traveling.

$150 that was given to me to buy presents for Todd to bring back to our West Coast family members. $150 to call personal money. $150 that was supposed to last... $150 that was supposed to stay in my pocket until I said it was time for it to be let out.

And, so lame, I tried calling the hotel management , in case someone had turned in the jeans, or the $150 when we got home (I know, the blonde bleach seeps in sometimes).
Some time ago, a wise sage (alias: my brother) said "things are never fully lost, they are replaced"; used in reference to kicking bad habits by focusing on replacing them with new ones.

So I lost $150. I'd asked Tim kindly to replace it. Reasonable, right? That's what Husbands are for, right?

At least that's what Tim thought I was trying to say when relaying to him that the $150 was in the pocket of the jeans; the same jeans that "disappeared" from our Howard Johnson BeiJing hotel room, while stepping out for a $10 breakfast.

At the time I'd thought "Tim must've packed the jeans", when I unpacked my bags to NOT find the jeans therein.

Man alive, I should've treated the jeans like a purse (which I didn't bring on the trip to BeiJing), and kept them close by.

"Shoulda", another word the wise sage deems as 'useless'.

So I was left to fill the place of my $150... that was never really lost, right? Just waiting to be 'replaced', right? right?

When we got back home, I decided, instead of shopping (and spending that missing $150) with our guests, I would do a little replacing myself...

I'd have a $150 play date w/ my boys.

It would be SO fun, I'd pay $150 for it.

It would have to be more fun than a Disney Land ticket (I hear they are only $50).

So, I washed out the never-used, display-only, over-sized, tiled fish pond in the front garden...

Filled it with fresh water...

And about every utensil our kitchen has ever seen,

and took every favorite book from the shelf (to read while at our 'pool'),

And jumped in with two splashing giggling boys.

And had a $150 play date.

I never got a picture of it, b/c it wasn't the only one.

We've attempted many $150 play dates.

And still try to.

Anytime I think about losing all that money,

We think of something fun to replace it with.

So, maybe, in fact, these pictures do have something to do with this story...

Two of my GREATEST and most PROUD investments.

And so I've learned, that more play dates need to be $150 play dates.

And more moments need to be million dollar moments.

The rebel in me says: who needs George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, or even William McKinley in your pocket to make things fun?

Even my niece-in-law Gel says that kids are enthused by the littlest things.

You don't need a dime to make their day!

They are ready for fun without a moments notice.

So it is true, invest time in your kids, and you'll never go broke.

And so, I'm not sure which hotel maid staff got lucky on that trip in BeiJing...

But I'm the luckier.

It was the best $150 I've ever...

Replaced.

PS. If you ever feel like you need a jump start on having fun play dates with your kids,

just make checks payable to Howard Johnson BeiJing HouseKeeping,

because they like $150 experiences just as much as the rest of us, apparently.