Going Green

My brother Justin has 4 young children.  His youngest son, Max, is 2 1/2 years old and like most kids that age not everything he says comes out perfectly clear.  He is a very bright young yet but from time to time what he says makes very little sense to people besides his mother.

While to be exact I think that at time his mother, Dianna, can understand Max's words but not the meaning while at other times she can understand the meaning but not the words.   If you have ever lived with a 2 1/2 year old this makes perfect sense.  If you have never lived with a 2 1/2 year old your missing out on a lot of fun (and frustration)!

And trust me talking to Max can be both (mostly fun).

At Christmas time the entire Chapin clan got together to celebrate.  Although we aren't a huge number of the people, the 20 of us can't all sit at one table.  This year found Max as the only kid at a table full of my siblings and our spouses.  In fact Max, my sister Nancy, Dianna and I all sat at the same end of the table. 

It was at the table that my 2 1/2 year old nephew decided to model a great life lesson.

As we sat eating Max noticed that Nancy had taken a green Marciano cherry off of her dinner roll and decided not to eat it.  A wise health choice because I am fairly sure that although edible a green Marciano cherries aren't really food.

After minutes of making noises and sounds that I am sure at times were intended to be words Max clear as Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, Max decides to speak up and say "are you going to eat that."  As he point to Nancy's unwanted cherry.  Nancy responded by quickly giving this young man a chance at pure sugar before his parents even realized what was going on.  (Hey, she is the aunt.  She wants to be loved by her nephew and Max is going home with Justin and Dianna.)

Max chewed the cherry for awhile.  Actually he chewed it for quite sometime.  But in the end he found out why Nancy didn't want the cherry for herself.

That was brunch.

At dinner a few hours later we found ourselves all sitting in the same spots and again Max noticed that Nancy wasn't polishing off everything on her plate.  So again as clear as Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, Max decides to speak up and say "are you going to eat that."  This time referring to the lime jello on Nancy's plate.  Again as the aunt Nancy gave the sugar to the 2 1/2.  (Well done, sis.)

Max's second food request had us wondering if he was fixated with green foods, although it should be pointed out that Max didn't ask about anybody's uneaten salads.

When something was just outside of Max's reach that he wanted he went for it in the only way he could.  He ask for the item.  Over the next few week I notice several times that things people requested for gifts weren't measuring up exactly how they thought they would.  Nobody was ungrateful but the delivery was less then the desire.

I often hear people say that a tool they thought would be super slick to a particular job wasn't quite as handy as they imagined that would be and our house has many dusty items that didn't hit reach the expectations of the recipient. I am sure that you have had similar experiences.

Isn't that how life often goes for us. 

Just like Max's food requests, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Sometimes even if the grass is greener we find out that greener grass isn't what we really wanted after all.

Brings me back to concept of being thrifty.  Getting more things doesn't typically bring us the satisfaction we seek but at the same time hoarding doesn't either.  Wisely using or spending our resources on things that are tested and proven over time often does leave us satisfied.