“Thank you, Mommy, for the beautiful new sunglasses!”

I looked down at her sunglass-bedecked face in slight surprise.  Was this the same little girl who had just been crying because I had not bought the orange sunglasses she’d wanted?  Was this the same little girl who didn’t like the fact that the yellow ones fit her little sister while the ones that fit her were only grey?

“You’re welcome, Ru!”

I was thankful that she was thanking me, even though that hadn’t been the first emotion she’d felt on seeing the sunglasses.

A few days before, little sister had broken her prized garage sale sunglasses from a few years ago (in much the same way the same little sister had broken Mommy’s glasses that weren’t from a garage sale a few months ago! note to all wearers of glasses: keep almost-2-year-olds, especially mine, away from your glasses!).  Thankfully, we’d just seen children’s sunglasses at GoodWill for $1.50 each, so I promised them that next time I went to town, I’d buy them each a pair.  Ru had her heart set on the cheaply made orange pair she’d spotted.  And every time I’d walked in the door that morning, she wanted to know where her new orange sunglasses were.  I knew the tears would be inevitable when I came home with something other than the orange ones, but I hoped these would last at least a bit longer—and they were still only $1.50!

At first, she’d tried to grab the bright yellow ones from her sister.  But later, I watched as they played nicely—in the big girl, grown-up way they do sometimes (rare times, it seems!)—and Ruth helped Mary on and off with her sunglasses.

Then I watched as Ru suggested that Mary try on hers and vice versa.  She discovered what I’d been trying to tell her all along.

“Here, Mary, yours fit you better.”

And there was no more complaining about the color of her sunglasses.

But the gray sunglasses made me ask myself some questions about being grateful.  Do I display the same nasty attitude when I don’t get what I want?  Would it help generate gratefulness to say thank you for something I didn’t think I wanted?  Am I only grateful after I realize that I got what I needed—what was best for me—even if it wasn’t what I wanted?

Lord, thank you for the gray sunglasses you give me in life.  And thank you for the little people who help teach their momma big lessons…

P.S. Don’t tell the girls, but knowing the inevitable lifespan of sunglasses, and the fact that GoodWill probably wouldn’t have them for $1.50 in the winter—when one needs sunglasses to protect one’s eyes from the snowy glare—I bought them each an extra pair.  Except, they are brown and black.