July 3, 2011

A Lesson Learned from a Child

I've learned many things from my children, although I don't always admit it to them. Recently, I learned one from my 3-year-old niece. Dear sweet Allyson, although my sister might argue with my classification, recently gave up her pacifier. My sister orchestrated a grand hand over to Mickey Mouse during a spring visit to Disney World.

A month ago, I called my mother and heard Allyson's heartbreaking whine in the background. When I asked what was wrong, Mom put Allyson on the phone. "I miss my pacie. Mickey has it. Can you call him and ask for it back?"

Funny how different my Aunt response is from my Mom response. "I will contact him immediately and see what I can do." I then called my sister and said, "Give that child her pacifier back." Okay, I didn't really do that, but I wanted to. The poor child sounded pitiful and all she wanted was her pacifier.

Don't we all have something in our lives we are just not ready to give up? It's a pacifier at three; a glass of wine every night in our thirties. For me, it's the serial comma recently abolished by Oxford (there's a great post: Don't Kill the Oxford Comma!). But, I digress.

I concocted a plan with my sister. I went to Michaels and bought a necklace, several pacifier charms, and multiple beads. I made a bracelet with pacifiers dangling and her name spelled out as well as a necklace with a single blue pacifier (her favorite one was blue) hanging from it. I sent these to her with a letter from Mickey explaining how her pacifier was making a big difference to a small child who needed it, and how he was so impressed with her. (I might have also mentioned how her Aunt Tia contacted him!)

Indulge me as I share the picture of her reaction:


She might not know how her Aunt Tia nearly lost her eyesight putting together that bracelet, but I hope she always knows how much I love her. If only we could all have a "Mickey" to help us through those things we fight giving up. Sometimes it just takes some encouragement and ingenuity to make the medicine go down.

Comma Queen, might you sprinkle some dust and make me forget about serial commas. Or, better yet, sprinkle some dust over the Oxford people so they might make a rule and stick to it.

13 comments:

Kate @ Teaching What Is Good said...

HOW SWEET!!!! Great idea, Tia.

Tia Bach said...

Kate, When my sister sent me the picture, I wanted to cry. Sometimes we forget how easy it is to spread joy. The picture is now the background on my phone, and it makes me happy everytime my phone rings!

Katy Manck, MLS said...

Aunt Tia (wait a minute... "tia" is "aunt" in Spanish, right? So you're Tia Tia!) - you are a gem! And someday, your niece will absolutely cherish this story.

Gotta agree with you on the Oxford comma. If an extra comma makes things clearer, then I'm gonna use it! Ha! I'm a rebel who uses the rules...

**Katy M
Recommending YA books beyond the bestsellers at http://BooksYALove.blogspot.com
Follow me on Twitter @BooksYALove

Tia Bach said...

Katy, Thanks. Yes, Tia Tia. My sisters keep threatening to have the kids call me TT, but since we used that for privates growing up, I'm not so keen. ;-)

I like rules; I do not like changing rules. Makes it too hard on us rule-followers.

I had kids before I was an Aunt, so I'm really enjoying the newest kids being born because my kids are old enough now for me to enjoy my nieces and nephews.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful aunt! Her look of pure joy is contagious and such a thoughtful idea you had.

Christine said...

Love this post! The pure joy on her face is fabulous, and what a great idea about the bracelet!

(BTW my mom always used TT for privates, also, and I've never heard of anyone else doing that!)

Christine said...

Ok I had to look up what this "Oxford comma" thing was all about and found this post: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/30/137525211/going-going-and-gone-no-the-oxford-comma-is-safe-for-now?sc=nl&cc=es-20110703

It's good news! And a fun read.

Martha Giffen said...

Such a precious picture! She radiates such happiness. Thanks so much for sharing. Found your blog through our blog challenge :)

Beth said...

You are a very sweet aunt!

Adena said...

That's so sweet - and the picture is precious. Thanks to Christine for the link about the serial comma - that was a fun read too!

Tia Bach said...

Liz & Christine, Thanks for stopping by. And loved the link on the comma. It's not dead yet (but how confusing a stance is Oxford taking?).

Martha & Adena, We love new faces. Thanks for coming by for a first look!

Beth, It's fun to be an Aunt!

Anonymous said...

That was incredibly sweet Tia! That face says it all! Very thoughtful! :)-- Dana

Tia Bach said...

Dana, Love you!