Sharing

I feel as if I spend half of my time reminding the little ladies to share.  Many mornings I am tempted to don a black and white striped jersey to make my job as referee official.  Panda Girl, as a second child, is a sharing champion.  There are very few things she objects to sharing with Sweet Pea.  Sweet Pea, on the other hand, is a true first child.  She wants to share nothing with her little sister.  Nothing.  Sadly, this behavior is payback from my own childhood. I too was a true first child in this regard. 

I live with a pack rat.  As a reformed pack rat myself, I understand the internal dialog Husband has regarding his stuff: "What if I need it some day?" or "I may be able to fix this." or "The girls could play with this.".  Living with Husband has cured my need to keep things.  I have learned to let go of any emotional attachment I have to a particular candy dish or an unworn sweater.  It has been liberating to be able to shed our stuff. 

This weekend we had a garage sale.  Several items were sold and we made some real money.  I had multiple huge bags of baby clothes.  Husband and I have already decided that two little ladies are plenty of kiddos for us.  Therefore, it was time to let go of the adorable newborn sleepers my girls wore as babies.  I took out one outfit I really liked from each of them and put the rest out for sale.  Several items did sell, however we still had bags upon bags remaining in our yard at the end of the day.  I was very temped to rifle through those bags and take out a few more choice pieces.  However, I knew where that path would lead: putting all of it back up in the attic to collect dust.  So, before I could change my mind I loaded up the minivan and took it all down the street to the local crisis pregnancy center.

The car was full to overflowing with baby clothes, maternity clothes, blankets, diaper bags, etc.  I wanted those items to be put to good use.  So I chose the pregnancy center.  They counsel women to have their babies and either keep them or put them up for adoption.  They do not advocate or give referrals for abortions.  Since their philosophy fits nicely with my own, I felt comfortable donating our old things to them.  To say the workers were shocked at the volume of stuff I was donating is an understatement.  I was almost ashamed at how much our girls had at an age where they could not possibly appreciate it all.  However, putting that aside it is great to know there are women in need who will benefit from my overspending.  I truly hope they enjoy some of the adorable outfits my girls hardly wore. 

See, there is hope.  First children can learn to share after all.