Before I became a parent, I never would have rejoiced at finding a pink plastic lizard on the sidewalk. Yet, this is exactly what I did recently as I found my five-year-old daughter’s most current prized possession.
Our morning had been a busy one. Our first stop was to drop off my son at preschool. We then ran two different errands before meeting up with some friends to play at Chuck E. Cheese. After blowing through tokens in record time, my daughter went to claim her prize. She chose a little pink lizard toy and a lollipop. (I was grateful the tokens had been free because the prizes weren’t worth the five dollar value of the tokens!) The lollipop was gone before we got into the van, but the lizard had won her heart and was her new “pet.”
After picking up my son from preschool, I decided to surprise my children by taking them out to lunch. All was well until we went to leave. It was then that my daughter noticed her new lizard was missing. She explained that she had carefully put it into her jeans pocket and she couldn’t find it. In my head, I knew that the silly little toy wasn’t worth mourning. However, my heart hurt so see my little girl be so sad. So, I searched. I even got down on my hands and knees to look under the tables in the restaurant.
Eventually, I had to escort my children back to our van. I convinced my daughter to leave by telling her that her lizard might be in the van. Once we were in the van I helped her search. We found all sorts of odds and ends and I realized that I desperately need to vacuum the van, but we didn’t find the pink lizard.
As I settled into my seat and turned on the van, I found myself thinking about how silly it was that I was trying so hard to find something so trivial. Before I’d really even finished my thought, I looked up to check my rearview mirror and as I did, something caught my eye. Of course, it was the lizard. I don’t know who was more excited…my daughter or me! I smiled as I returned her precious pet to her. Now, I certainly don’t believe in protecting my children from all the heartbreaks that come with life. I suppose that really isn’t the point of the story. Rather, I found myself pondering the fact that I was so concerned about a toy that was worth less than a dollar. It was important to me because it was important to my daughter.
I have a friend who knows the name of all the trains and engineers in her son’s train collection. At first, I thought it seemed silly to know so much about something so trivial. However, the more I thought about it, I realized it wasn’t silly at all. It’s part of being parent who loves a child more than she ever thought possible. That love will make us do things we never would have before becoming a parent—things like nearly dancing for joy at finding a plastic lizard on the sidewalk just outside Chic-fil-A. This parenting thing is an amazing and sometimes crazy thing. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.