My wife loves dollar stores. She enjoys seeing what they have there and getting a bargain. There are at least a few dollar stores which she has called, ‘my dollar store.’  I, on the other hand, don’t have patience for dollar stores though I certainly don’t mind a bargain.

Sunday mornings are lazy times in my house. It is one of those times when if I am on the phone, my mother will say to me, “Are the kids awake? Everyone okay?”  Yes they are awake and just fine thank you. You see, we have three televisions in my house, and all of them are typically in use on Sunday mornings.  My wife watches in our room while doing laundry, my younger son watches in the den while playing with his Thomas trains, and my older son watches in the playroom while playing with Lego.  Before I run out of the house to do errands, I receive grunts for hellos from my beloved family. It’s special – very special – this bonding time.

Well, this Sunday morning (closer to afternoon – but same idea), I took the children with me on some errands. It would give my wife some space and get the children away from the television. Besides, one of the errands was to pick up their grandmother (my mother) at the train, and my mother loves when they greet her at the train. However, to get them away from the television on a Sunday morning required bribing.  One of our stops was the dollar store, and the children were allowed to pick something out. The five items, including the ice pop for my younger son and the car carrier truck for my older son, came out to less than $10.  The children did not complain in the store, said thank you, and smiled.  They say ‘big kids, big problems and little kids, little problems.’ Well, in this case it was little kids, little needs. These are needs I could afford without even having to think about it. I think I am beginning understand why my wife loves the dollar store.