Mother's Day Present
I know, we just had Father's Day, but sometimes the reminders of stories come up, and they can't be ignored. Today, we were in the parking lot after buying shoes, and my oldest said the magical words, "Remember that time in the first grade that I got you that coupon book for Mother's Day?" The story went like this:
When my oldest daughter was in the first grade, they made coupon books for Mother's Day. She handed it to me wrapped in a paper sack. I flipped through the book, and it had a coupon for doing the dishes, a coupon for cleaning her room, a coupon for dusting, a coupon for vacuuming and many others.
Usually, I forget to redeem the coupons, but I took her up on the vacuuming. She was very small, and I had a huge vacuum cleaner that had a water filter. You had to fill the bottom drum with water, then had to dump the muck out when you were done. It was a big chore for a small child. So, I helped her out. I got her started, showed her the basics of vacuuming and let her get to work.
She lasted a couple of minutes. She turned the vacuum off, and left it there in the middle of the living room, only a few feet of carpet actually done. I came to her and asked, "Hey, what happened? Why didn't you finish the room?"
She shrugged, "It wasn't as much fun as I thought it was."
"So....you only made coupons for the jobs you thought would be fun?"
She shrugged again, "Yup."
I didn't redeem any more coupons.
Now, today, as she was remembering the story, her version came out totally different. It came out as follows:
"Remember in the first grade when I gave you that coupon book for Mother's Day, and I had hurt my arm really bad and it was in a cast, so you only said I had to vacuum a little bit?"
My daughter has never hurt her arm, or had it in a cast. I told her MY version, and she didn't remember things going that way at all.
I was there. I'm pretty sure my version is the right one.
When my oldest daughter was in the first grade, they made coupon books for Mother's Day. She handed it to me wrapped in a paper sack. I flipped through the book, and it had a coupon for doing the dishes, a coupon for cleaning her room, a coupon for dusting, a coupon for vacuuming and many others.
Usually, I forget to redeem the coupons, but I took her up on the vacuuming. She was very small, and I had a huge vacuum cleaner that had a water filter. You had to fill the bottom drum with water, then had to dump the muck out when you were done. It was a big chore for a small child. So, I helped her out. I got her started, showed her the basics of vacuuming and let her get to work.
She lasted a couple of minutes. She turned the vacuum off, and left it there in the middle of the living room, only a few feet of carpet actually done. I came to her and asked, "Hey, what happened? Why didn't you finish the room?"
She shrugged, "It wasn't as much fun as I thought it was."
"So....you only made coupons for the jobs you thought would be fun?"
She shrugged again, "Yup."
I didn't redeem any more coupons.
Now, today, as she was remembering the story, her version came out totally different. It came out as follows:
"Remember in the first grade when I gave you that coupon book for Mother's Day, and I had hurt my arm really bad and it was in a cast, so you only said I had to vacuum a little bit?"
My daughter has never hurt her arm, or had it in a cast. I told her MY version, and she didn't remember things going that way at all.
I was there. I'm pretty sure my version is the right one.