Happiness is seeing the smile on your daughters' faces when you tell them you got Taylor Swift tickets for Friday night....... uhhhhhhh, for the SECOND time.
Say what????
Yes, the second time. The first time, my friend, Vickie, was sweet enough to get a whole block of tickets for a lot of us to go to Birmingham this Friday night. That was like 4 months ago. I was so excited because the girls have never been to a concert, and they talk about wanting to all the time. There aren't a whole lot of concerts you can take 8 and 10 year old children to these days, you know. So Taylor Swift was perfect. And for all these months, I've looked forward to September 11th, the night my girls officially become BIG girls and get to do a BIG GIRL thing with Mommy.
Then last week, out of the blue, they both tell me they don't want to go. Madison especially put her foot down and said she just plain wasn't going. WHAT???? "But you were soooooo excited," I said. Nope. Changed their minds...... didn't want to go.
So after thinking about it for a while and knowing I wasn't about to spend hundreds of dollars dragging two girls to a concert kicking and screaming, I decided to tell Vickie that if she had someone who wanted the tickets, I would give them up. So she did exactly what I asked her. She found an eager buyer for those precious tickets. And then I told the girls.
And that's where one of those age-old dilemmas comes in. We humans seem to ALWAYS want the very thing we can't have.
Then the crying started. And lasted. And became quite a show of anger toward Mommy. In their eyes, I had basically ruined their life. "But we REALLY wanted to go. We've already told all of our friends. You promised!"
Completely bewildered.... I sent them to bed with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and a tear or two coming down my face as well. I thought I was doing the right thing. Clearly I wasn't.
So I got on the internet, looked for scalped tickets, and of course found some, albeit for more than twice as much money!! I thought about it for hours, but I just couldn't seem to press that BUY button. I wanted to teach them a lesson, but I also wanted to go and have a great time with them...... they'd remember that concert for years to come.
After sleeping on it, and putting my 8 year old on the bus that morning sobbing (on picture day I might add!), I decided to just go for it..... I worry so much about overindulging my children.... it's very important to me that they earn their way in life and they appreciate all the things given to them...... so this really went against my nature to "do the right thing" and teach that lesson. However, isn't it also "the right thing" to forgive and be understanding and realize that sometimes we just have bad days...... we say things we don't necessarily mean..... we make mistakes.
So that's where that Happiness comes in....... I surprised them yesterday afternoon at the bus stop with the good news....... Mommy found tickets....... WE'RE GOING!! There's been a permanent smile on their faces ever since. So maybe I did the right thing..... maybe I didn't, but I have to say......... I am as excited as they are to go do the "girl thing" with my two big girls. We're picking out outfits, have our cowboy boots shined and ready, and can't wait to sing a little..... "You belong with me-ee-eeee." I'll be posting pictures soon so check back soon.
