Card Shopping with a Three-Year-Old? Priceless.

I have a confession to make. I'm sure this never happens to any of you. It is a trick I fall for each and every time. Last night, Abigail and I went for a late-night trip to Wal-Mart to buy nail polish for fun girl times (we have had a lot of them this week), and I left with, well, far too many new, shiny things in my cart. I won't give the price, but it could have bought us about twenty new bottles of sparkly nail polish. I'm sure you never fall for this ploy. Ahem.

As we were wandering through the crafty aisles, trying to find something cute and adhesive to occupy Abigail's attention for three minutes, we came upon the card aisle. With the Father's Day section. Dum dum dummmmmm. Paul and I are really not big card buyers for each other. They are kind of like flowers. They are a nice sentiment, and we are always pleased to get them from people, but you know eventually they will end up in the trash. Unless they are really, really special and thought out. So, we usually do not spend the money on each other for such frivolous things. He is considerate and romantic, and usually makes me a card for special occasions. I usually give him two things in the card category. Jack and squat. He has more romance in his earlobes than I have in my whole body.

But of course, it IS Father's Day, and Daddy HAS been gone for a week on a mission trip. So, I chose a cute little 88 cent card for Abigail to give him with lions and rainbows that said, "You're so fun, Daddy." Or something like that. Then I noticed, about five rows up, the shiny Pantene mane of a My Little Pony sticking out. It was a Father's Day card. It was pink. And it had stickers inside. I didn't point it out to Abigail. I didn't have to. She noticed it 4.7 seconds after I did.

"THAT'S my card!!! I want to get that card!!", she shouted with much enthusiasm.

"You know this is for Daddy, right? Not for you?" Of course, I showed her that there were two stickers inside with ponies that said, "I love my Daddy" and "My Daddy Loves Me". Okay, so the card is totally for her. And it cost about 3.99.

Next, we chose a card for my dad from Abigail. She has called him Papa ever since she started choosing her own names for people. I was so excited to find about three cards in the sea of "Grandpa" cards that said, "Papa" on them. I picked one out with bears and hearts that said, "You're so fun, Papa." Or something like that. (Do we see a theme here?) I thought, AWESOME. It costs about 2.49, and it says Papa. I am mother (and daughter) of the year.

Then, I was standing next to the cards, talking to a friend from church. Abigail wandered down to the end cap, where all of the singing, talking, glowing cards are. You know the ones...they cost 5.99. She RAN up to me, WAVING a card in my face with PURE EXCITEMENT in her eyes. It was a Hee Haw card. And it was perfect. You see, for the last several months, my parents have taught Abigail a little ditty from Hee Haw days. You know the one..."Where, oh where, are you tonight? Why did you leave me here all alone? I searched the world over and thought I found true love. You met another and ppppffttt, you were gone." THE BEST country bumpkin song ever. And Abigail found it on a Father's Day card, all by herself. She was absolutely jumping up and down. It was one of those priceless moments, where the card fit so perfectly, that it did not matter how much it cost. It was going in the cart.

So, I ended up paying ten bucks for two cards. But they were hand-picked by one very happy little girl.

I considered buying a card for Paul myself, gushing about what a great Daddy he is. But the best I could find had a magnet on the front that said, "There are 206 bones in the human body. And I want to jump every one of yours." Yeah. That was not a Valentine's Day card. It was a Father's Day card. Of course, I figured he would love it so I bought it.

Just kidding. Can you imagine coming into the parsonage to see THAT magnet on the fridge? We'll stick with Hee Haw and My Little Pony.