Last night Abigail asked if she could have money for the school holiday boutique. It’s a fair of crap, plastic rings and enormous pencils, gifts for everyone on your list. Every year we give them money and names, but this year, we rolled our eyes and said, “Please, no.” Abigail cried. I got down to the bottom of the tears. It wasn’t that she really wanted to gift her loved ones presents, no. She wanted a ring for herself, she said. And also, she said, she wanted to get some things for her friends. “I have a feeling,” I said, “that this is the case of your not really even wanting anything deeply or madly. If you did, you’d want to save every penny for it. You wouldn’t want to waste any money on the things at the boutique. You just want to get something tomorrow because it’s there, because everyone else will be shopping.”
“Yes, that’s it!” She said, as if clarity just rose up within her. She blinked away her tears and began to smile. “There’s nothing I truly deeply want. That’s it.”
“I know. Because you have everything you could possibly want. That’s the blessing. So, you have the opportunity to save your money for a time when you do want something madly.”
She thought on this for a while, then asked if I wanted anything deeply. This is when I went on and about my juicy Copic markers, in great detail. She took out her piggy bank, asked me to help her count her money, just to see how much she could afford at the boutique, should she choose to shop there. No doubt all her friends’ parents would simply hand over a $20, as we’d done in the past, for the child to return home with crap upon crap, and a hot steamy crap for the teacher, too.
“Mama, even though this $100 could be used to buy myself an American Girl that looks like me, I’d rather give you the money for the holidays to use toward your Japanese magic markers.”
My nose began to tingle. My chin began to dimple. Tears.
Upon reading my joy, she shied, swaying with love.

“Hey,” Lucas said, “I want to give you my money, too! I want you to get your markers! No fair. Not only Abigail. I want to buy them for you, too!”

Oh, the magic.

Abigail brought the remaining $7.00 into school to the boutique to buy crap. I’m thinking that her money will have to be deposited into an actual bank, and those markers are going to have to come home to mama soon.