What money can't buy ...

Some of my friends and I were discussing life's lessons and how we came to learn them. It was a fun discussion but Ted's story won hands down for tugging at heartstrings. It was when he was in his twenties and his wife had left him in charge of their very active three year old daughter, advising him to be sure to use the harness if they went out.

Since it was close to Christmas my friend thought it would be great fun to go shopping for presents with his daughter. He could just imagine the joy that she would experience when she saw the dolls and other things that he planned to buy. He said he was sure he'd spend much more money than they could afford but, after all, it was for his little girl ! So he attached the harness and off they went.

But, sadly, the venture wasn’t turning out like he’d imagined. She barely smiled and didn’t seem particularly interested in any of the toys that he chose. She actually looked more bored than happy. He persevered, however, and his cart was overflowing with goodies when he checked out. With great care he maneuvered his little girl and the packages out to the car.

He was putting the gifts into the trunk when he felt a tug on the harness cord. He turned to see his tiny daughter squatting on the pavement and, with his heart in his mouth, he rushed to see what was wrong. Imagine his surprise when she turned to him with a radiant smile and pointed to the thing that was of such interest to her.

 

It was a single flower pushing it’s way up through a small crack in the pavement... a gift more precious to her than all the ones that he had bought...and a great lesson learned for my friend.