Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Kindness From A Stranger Made My Day And My Son’s Day Too

After my son graduated from superhero sneakers that lit up, which I could buy for $10 to $15, I passed the shoe buying task to my son’s father.  I just couldn't see paying fifty bucks for a pair of sneakers that he’d wear for maybe a year.

Well, when I picked my son up from football practice, he advised me that he needed a new pair of sneakers for P.E.  My first response was, “You’re crazy in your head.  You’d better take a rag and soap and clean up a pair in your closet.”

“I can’t.  They’re all small.”

“You’ve got like five pairs of shoes in your closet.  What do you mean they’re all small?”

With the apple not falling far from the tree, my eleven year old replied, “Do I need to draw you a picture?”

Now, if I said something like that to my mom when I was a kid, I’d be picking up teeth off the floor, but I let the comment slide because I was still trying to wrap my head around the facts.

My son walks around in his socks in the morning, and he leaves shortly after me, so I never see what shoes he’s wearing, and when I pick him up after work, he’s wearing cleats. 

“So the shoes you wear for PE are the same shoes that you wear to school?”

“Yes, and they’re really getting raggedy now.  Sooner or later people are going to start asking me why I only have one pair of shoes.”

“And you tell them to mind their damn business,” I said, thinking about how kids were back in the day.  These new and improved versions were down right ruthless

“Can I quote you?” he asked sarcastically.

“No.  Why didn’t you tell me you needed shoes?”

“I’m telling you now.”

I was tired as a dog, and wanted to go home, have a glass of wine and watch some TV, but I headed to the mall. 

So I wasn’t sticker shocked, when I walked into the store, I mentally prepared myself to have to pay up to $60.00 including tax.

When we walked into the shoe department at Dicks, I thought, cool, there are plenty of shoes in the $40.00 range.  My son picks up a pair of black and white Nike’s for $48.00.  I then see him eyeing a pair of Addidas AdiZero Ghosts for $59.00.  It’s more than I wanted to pay, but I was willing to spend a little extra to make my son happy.  We’d just have to go to Blockbuster Express instead of Multiplex this weekend.  Besides, he’s a good kid, and he does what he’s supposed to do… for the most part.  So, I ask the salesperson if she can help me find the shoes, and she asked me for his size. 

“Size nine.” 

She looked down.  “Wow, he has some big feet.”

My son smiled and I knew why.  This girl in his sixth grade class told him that boys who have big feet have "big dicks".  (Lord!)

“You need to look at shoes in the men’s section,” she said and steered me in the right direction. 

The only pair of shoes they had for less than $80 was Bo-bos (ugly shoes that you begged your momma not to buy).  The exact pair of Nikes that my son wanted in the kids section was forty dollars more in the adult section.  They didn’t have the Addidas in his size but they were $70.00.  I mean, seriously, how much leather are they using to justify that price?  I was having an internal fit. 

“We’ll have to shop around the mall,” I said.

We went to Footlocker, Champs and Finish Line.  Every nice pair of shoes came with an eighty dollar price tag.

We went back to Dicks, and I asked if they’d have a Halloween sale and the salesperson said, “Uh, no.”

Feeling completely deflated, I said to my son, “I may just have to take you to Walmart and get some Bo-bos that I can afford and have your dad take you this weekend to get some shoes.”

My son looked visibly disappointed.  I was thinking, getting a pair of Bo-bos is better than nothing.  Besides, wearing the same pair of shoes isn’t the end of the world.  Lots of people don’t have any shoes.  But it didn’t make me feel any better. 

When we got in the car, I said, “Let’s drive over to Sports Authority since we’re out anyway.”

My son’s chocolate face lit up.  “Sure!” he said.

We went into the store.  Sports Authority had the Addidas in my son’s size.  The price was the same as Dicks - $70.00

“Can we get them mommy?  Please!”

Try as I might, I just couldn’t justify spending that much money on shoes.  Shit – I didn’t wear seventy dollar shoes and I have a job.

“I’m sorry baby, but I can’t afford it.”

My son took off the shoes and put them back in the box, turned to me and said, “It’s ok mommy.  I can wear the Bo-bos.  Let’s go to Walmart.”

This little old woman was checking out some sneakers and must have overheard our conversation because she walked over to me and said, “If those shoes were in the fifty dollar range, would you be able to buy them?”

I nodded, and she reached in her purse and pulled out a coupon.  “I have two but I can only use one.  It’s for 25% off.  Go buy that baby his shoes.”

That kindness from this complete stranger really touched my heart.  She made my day and my son’s day too.  My son was able to get the shoes that he wanted, and I was able to buy them.


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Seasons Change by Jennifer Lightburn aka @1writerlover: My son's challenge - write a scary book for kids w...

Seasons Change by Jennifer Lightburn aka @1writerlover: My son's challenge - write a scary book for kids w...: Finding His Head By Jennifer Lightburn Chapter One I hated my mother and father. Don’t get me wrong. I loved them dearly, but I hated ...

My son's challenge - write a scary book for kids with the title: Finding His Head


 Finding His Head
By Jennifer Lightburn
I hated my mother and father.  Don’t get me wrong.  I loved them dearly, but I hated them all the same.  They made us move… to the country to make matters worse.  They wanted us to get away from the city.  Like we lived in the city.  We lived in DC.  The last I heard it was the Nations Capital, not like New York City or L.A., and it’s not like we got into real trouble.  Jasmine was always a 4.0 student, and I brought in straight C’s.  We didn't get involved in grown people's business or hang around the “bad crowd”, but my mother and father were concerned about us getting caught up in the “fast life” and so they moved us down to Leesburg, VA where we could experience country living in the suburbs.
“Close enough to the city but far enough away from the chaos,” my mother, Jackie said.
I thought we’d be able to talk them out of this ridiculous decision.  Shoot, Jasmine, my twin sister, was on the debate team, but not even her eleventh grade vocabulary could convince my parents to think about the damage they’d bestow on their children.   I was in complete turmoil because Leslie finally said YES to the note about being my girlfriend that I passed her in class.  I begged my parents, but my fifth grade words sure weren’t helping, especially since we were in the sixth grade.  Gritting my teeth, huffing and puffing and having the most dramatic conniption inevitable only put my father’s belt around his neck, so I shut the heck up and said goodbye to Leslie and my friends after we loaded the last of the boxes on the U-Haul.
“I’ll miss you, Tyrone,” Leslie said before giving me a kiss on the cheek. My very first kiss, I must say.
“Don’t forget about us, yo,” KC said, trying to look as hard has he could, even though, I spotted a little tear in his right eye.
“T, don’t let the country turn you into a chump, homie,” LaJohn said, giving me some dap.
I said my peace and put my arm around my sister.  She said goodbye to her friends but couldn’t hold in her emotion and cried so hard that I had to force myself to stay strong.  Seriously, how would I look, crying like a girl because we were moving twenty miles east of town?  I held it together the best I could.
“You’ll like Leesburg, and you’ll be able to invite your friends over to stay a visit,” my mother said in her southern drawl.  
My father, who named me after him, completely abolished our sentimental moment.  “Jr., get in.  I want to get there so we have enough time to unload,” he said in his usual crass tone.  He jumped in the U-Haul and put his seatbelt on before we even stepped inside.
We squished into the front seat of the truck like sardines in a can.  Of course we had to role the windows all the way down because my father chose the truck with no AC to save fifteen dollars, and he ate a Big Mac knowing his digestive system couldn’t tolerate the grease.  By the time we got to Leesburg, my mother’s hair looked like she’d stuck her finger in a socket and my sister looked like the Heat Miser.
“This is it,” my mother said excitedly.
“Shizaam!  You have got to be kidding me.”
“Watch yourself boy!”
I really didn’t pay my father any mind.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  We were moving into a place that could be used for a Frankenstein movie.  I swear there was a dark cloud looming over the house, but my father said the forecast called for rain.  In all my life, granted I was just eleven years old, I’d never seen it rain in one spot.
“You always were a dramatic kid.  Maybe I need to get you into theatre,” my father said.
For a moment, I forgot who I was talking to and I said, “Did you get a deal on this piece of crap?  Is that why you’re moving us out here?” before I could stop myself.
“One mo again,” my father said, and from experience I knew when he spoke those words, I’d reached his limit, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was about a second away from socking me a good one.
My sister grabbed my hand as we walked up the sidewalk to the front porch.  I could hear creepy music in my head with every step.  My father wrestled with the key chain to find the correct key and then he opened the door.  A gust of wind forced us to hold our positions.
“Is that supposed to happen when you open a door,” I asked rhetorically.
My father gave me the look and my mother said, “There there.  Let’s give it a chance.”
I felt as if I was in an 80’s movie and the gust of wind was the sign to GET OUT.
The floors creaked.  There was a musty smell that chocked me.  I was drowning in funk.  The only way to survive was to breath in the foulness.
            My mother, who always saw the bright side of every situation said, “Oh, we just need to open the windows and air the place out.”
            “After we find and get rid of the dead body,” I replied.
            There was no warning.  My father plucked me upside my head with his middle finger.  “I told you about mouthing off.  Say something out of line again and see what happens,” he said.
            “Daddy, I’m sorry, but I’m with Tyrone.  This place gives me the creeps.”
            My father put his arms around Leslie’s shoulder.  “Don’t be scared baby girl.  Daddy’s here to protect you.”