Life is Hard...Yep!

Remember the other day when Maddy cooked dinner for our family? Well before dinner we had to go shop with the boys, and of course they grumbled because we bought the ingredients for pasta salad. The word "salad" scares them about as much as a bottle of shampoo, but nonetheless, if it's put before them at dinner time, they MUST eat it.

Walking to the car with vegetables in hand, Graham asked, "Mom, why is life so hard?"

"Well," I answered him, "because if we can make it through tough situations, there's always a reward. It's called perserverance, little guy."

I reminded him how tough that saving can be, and how great it is to finally buy something you've always wanted. And how cleaning the house sucks, but sleeping in a nice tidy bed feels great. I reminded him that when we eat healthy we can run faster and live longer. And labor...now that's a subject he'll hear about from his wife someday--and never stop hearing about!! :)

So yesterday I took the kids shopping because Grampa gave the boys each some birthday money--$20.00 to be exact! Graham took the $34.00 he had recently saved and combined it with the $20.00 for a whopping $54.00 shopping spree!

With arms full of stuff, he raised himself up on his toes to plunk the goods on the counter; a crooked smile tilted his specks. "You're right, mom!" he said, "Life is tough, but if we make it through the tough stuff, life's great!!"

Of course I smiled a crooked one of my own, knowing that finally something I said had sunk in.

The next stop was McDonalds, and while the kids ordered their little meals, I opted to wait for that leftover salad we had in the fridge. It was a little tough watching a Big Mac pass me by, but when you finally get it, you realize that the difficult path ain't all that bad!

Life is hard...yep! But it's good.