Generosity

Solomon and Miriam's school had a canned food drive leading up to the holidays. I packed up a few things from our pantry for them to take to school. Solomon said he wanted to send more, to buy more. I told him that he was welcome to pick out more from the pantry because I could replace what he took before we needed to eat it but I couldn't spend money on it because the grocery money was spent. He said that he wanted to go the store and spend his saved allowance on some more food.

So he got his wallet and I took him to Target.  Considering that he had less than $15 saved up and he's been wanting to buy accessories for his PSP, I figured he'd spend a couple of dollars, five at the most.  But, no.  He picked out some cans of veggies and then moved on.  He kept adding up prices on the calculator and came to a total of $12.  I asked him if he was sure.  He said yes, with no hesitation.

As we headed to the cashier, we passed a display of DVDs.  He paused for a second and sucked in his breath when he saw that The Hunger Games was selling for $13.  He loved those books; he read them all twice.  He adored the movie.  He is dying to see the second movie.  I thought he might change his mind about spending most of his money on food for the food drive. I could see the internal conflict as his face changed expressions.  But then he let out his breath and kept walking.

That is my kid. He is amazing.