Why Start Small?

You know when you were a kid and you saw that pack of gum or that bag of candy in the grocery store that you really, really wanted but your mom said “no,” so then you decided to pocket it anyway, but got caught later and had to go back to the store, pay, apologize and then work off the money that you ended up owing your parents for the purchase? Okay, so maybe not all of you have indulged in a life of crime, but my rundown seems to be a pretty typical story. Well, not in my family, we like to be creative and we never start small.

My first (of 3) steals was a horned toad from preschool. I remember one of the kids, Millie Black, brought this little toad to preschool for show-and-tell. Well, she was getting so much attention that I couldn’t stand it. I nabbed the frog, went and told the teacher I was sick, and then walked the few blocks home (you have to remember that I come from a very small town so letting a 4 year old walk home was not a big deal). As soon as I got home I went out to the backyard and released the toad and then bided my time outside (so my mom would not know I was home). Unfortunately, I soon heard a “Lisa!” from my mom. My heart started beating, my hands started sweating, and I knew I was busted!

Well, this week Keely decided to try a life of crime, and, like her mother, didn’t want to do something simple like a candy bar or a pack of gum, nope, not her style. Instead, while she was shopping with her Aunt Shauri (Shauri has a more detailed version of the lift on her blog), she slipped a fuzzy purple pair of UGG flip flop slippers into the Gymboree bag she was holding. Yes, I said UGG; even though they were marked down 4 times they were still priced at $40 - the girl may not have good taste, but she certainly has expensive taste! Well, obviously Keely wasn’t too concerned about it because she fell to sleep on the way home and when Shauri opened the bag to show me the little outfit she had bought for Keely she was shocked to find the pair of slippers! When Keely woke up I asked her what she had got at the store. She lit up and said, “Oh, I got a great surprise for you momma!” Which honestly took me back and made me feel a little bad that I was going to have to give her a lecture I was about to give. Well, on Monday Shawn took Keely back to Von Maur to return the slippers and have her apologize to the sales person. When I asked him how it went he said, “I think it took them a while to understand what was going on.” I don’t think the sales person could really fathom that a 4 year old would steal those purple beauties! Regardless, we know it is hard for Keely to apologize, and especially to someone she doesn’t know so we’re praying that this will be enough of a deterrent!

Oh, and for those of you wondering, my other 2 steals were all the popsicles from my neighbor’s (the Patterson’s) freezer while they were gone on a family trip when I was 5 (my cousin Eddie was my partner in crime on this one), and, yep I decided to conform on the 3rd – a pack of gum.