Something that William is self conscious about is that he does not have all the correct accoutrements for middle school. When we drove to the birthday party, he talked about girls. He doesn't like them much. He said, "They are all mean and make fun of people. He made his voice high and squeaky: 'Oh you don't have an I-Phone' or 'OOOOOOOh, your earbuds are not I-Pods', or 'That's not a Stanley cup.'
I said, "Understand, though, that they've done nothing to have those things. Their parents are well off and can buy them those things. This does not mean that they are better than you. They're the same, they just have fancier stuff."
He looked out the window. "I know. It doesn't bother me."
But, I knew that it did, and while my heart hurt for him, the fact of it is (and he knows this) if he wants to earn money, he has every opportunity to do so. If he wants those fancy things, he'll work for them. If he doesn't care to work for them, well...he doesn't really want those fancy things. I just don't think that it is a good thing for a kid to have everything his little heart desires simply handed to him.
Long story short, I'm looking at Christmas shopping, and I thought maybe that one of those Stanley cups would make a nice Christmas gift for him. I looked them up on line, and was astonished that they were $48.
I was washing dishes tonight. When we went to the parade yesterday, we took cups of water. I washed mine and discovered, of all darn things, it is a Stanley cup. Stainless steel. Gray trim. A very manly cup.
I've had it for a while. I used to take coffee to work in it, but I rarely use it now.
I look a picture of it and sent it to William and told him if he wanted it for school he could have it.
Quiet day today. We went to the new build. We didn't do a lot of work, really. It's Sunday, after all, but Tim went to my nephew's machine shop about a repair and bought a dozen eggs from them. $3. We stopped in at Albert's and bought a 5 tomatoes, 2 large green peppers, 7 peaches, and four zucchini, total $8. We stopped in to blab with my sister and her husband and she asked me to take some summer squash. She was disappointed that I only took two.
If it wasn't that we have, for the first time, run out of venison, we would just about not have to go to the grocery store at all.
We came home and had breakfast burritos for supper, and then went over to the renovation to do some work on that for a while. I am very sorry I let myself get talked into buying that house. We've had it for probably 5 years now. A lot has happened in that time frame. We never, ever expected it would take so long to get it flipped, but we have barely scratched the surface of that. It has all new windows, a new roof, new siding. It looks pretty nice outside, but man. We've got a long way to go on the inside.
I'll be working on houses until I'm 75.
Which sucks.
Steve Reed? Click on that picture. To borrow a phrase, can you embiggen it?
Nice approach for raising Mr. William. There's so many styles of those expensive water bottles, it could be it has to have loops or hooks for special things. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteYes. It is not the 'in' style.
DeleteNot a bad day .
ReplyDeleteCould you sell the renovation house as is?
I have been pushing for this very thingfor months now. There is more money to be made in fixing it up.
DeleteLove that cartoon. Made me smile.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, the earnest sweetness about Steve just makes me laugh.
DeleteThe teenage years are not pleasant much of the time - all trying to find their way.
ReplyDeleteI shall have that song in my head all day now;-)
There are worse songs to have in your head. This is the song that never ends...it goes on and on, my friend.
DeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again: there's nothing on earth any meaner than a pack of middle school girls. Of course it's just adolescent insecurity, but some girls never grow out of it. I feel for William. It's a tough age for boys and girls.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should drop off a pack of them in UkraIne?
DeleteMy uber stylish 14yo bought a cup on the weekend from target for $15 (with her own money because her mother was there to buy her underwear and she didn't NEED a drink vessel) that she tells me is a dupe for a Stanley cup and apparently dupe is acceptable for not so mean (well, maybe they are all mean) girls over on this side of the pond.
ReplyDeleteAs i understand it, dupes are NOT acceptable here.
DeleteFor some reason, neither of my kids were really into the latest fads and asking for specific brands of things. Neither seemed to hang out with the "in" crowd either, which is probably why they weren't concerned about the latest fads.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is the healthier way to grow up.
DeleteI have to admit that I felt "lesser than" in Jr. High when suddenly, all the girls were wearing a certain type of dress sold under The Villager brand. I had a similar looking dress but it came from J.C. Fields and was fooling no one. And then suddenly, in high school, it became the thing to make your own clothes and I was happy about that because I could and did sew. THAT leveled the playing field a lot.
ReplyDeleteI always felt lesser than. It is amazing to me that after all these years, there are people who still subscribe to that thinking.
DeleteKids can be cruel to each other. they know what buttons to push.
ReplyDeleteThey sure do.
DeleteI hope William has a nice core group of friends and that he doesn't pay attention to the mean ones. My kids were never part of the "cool crowd" but managed to have their own group of buddies to hang out with. We didn't have the name brand fancy stuff but now it doesn't seem to have mattered...
ReplyDeleteHe seems to have friends. He is finding his way. He is kind, with a good heart.
DeleteNever heard of that brand, but the Stanley Cup is emblematic of hockey supremacy. 😊 Otherwise, I don't think that brand has become a thing here. I'll ask the grands if I remember ... which means that I won't ask the grands.
ReplyDeleteLol. Our minds are a lot alike...they tend to wander.
DeleteIt is so hard for kids these days. My boys were lucky in a way. This was a farming area, except for the guys who worked at "the plant". Most kids dressed like they did. They too worked for everything they got, except our youngest, 13vyears behind the others and things were easier then. But I think it ruined him, sadly.
ReplyDelete'Want' is a powerful motivator. When kids don't want for anything, it just makes them feel entitled. I know exactly what you mean.
DeleteYes! These pictures embiggen! Very exciting! :)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this kind of a Stanley cup. (Only the hockey trophy!) Somehow that's a trend that has passed me by entirely. But I note that when I Google "stanley cup" the cups come up before the trophy does.
I worked school food service over 20 years and was offered middle schools to manage a few times and always turned it down, even if it was closer to my house. That age is so hard to work with, a lot of them want to look big and popular and it made the lunch ladies job so much harder. I like elem. school when the little ones come up and ask "do you want to hug me" or can I call you grandma because I really like you.
ReplyDelete