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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Hard Lessons

Abby's scooter has gone missing, and she's heartbroken. I feel bad on the one count (because she's heartbroken) but on the other, I have no sympathy. Maybe this will be the trigger for her learning to keep track of her things.

She's ten. She's a girl scout. She's old enough, knowledgeable enough, and (generally) responsible enough to understand that this is her responsibility, no-one else's, because she left it at a friend's apartment (outside), she thinks it was Wednesday afternoon, and now it's Saturday. Sorry, guys, it's a decent neighborhood, but that is no guarantee that unattended scooters won't be stolen if they're left outside for half a week.

She knows this, and I'm sure half the heartbreak is guilt and anger at herself, for leaving the damn thing out there in the first place.

The three girls and a couple of neighbor kids are walking down to the apartment complex office to see if it's been turned in. I doubt it, because any un-thief who saw it would have assumed that it belonged to the household outside which it was left, and leave it alone.

Lizzy's winter jacket got off a little easier; she left it in the complex playground yesterday. It's wet, and in the washing machine, and it'll be fine. Maybe her sister's hard lesson will make an impression on her too.

I doubt it, though, because she's five, and she's Lizzy, and while she is sympathetic (insofar as it is in her to be) with her sister's plight, her attention span is such that she will forget pretty quickly. And - being Lizzy - will remember three years from now.

In the meantime, we have an overnight planned for this evening, and that will, if nothing else, serve as a distraction from the woe.

UPDATE: The Scooter has been found, a bit worse for wear. It's fine but it appears that one of the bolts has been stripped and needs replacing, so the handlebars do not fall off at odd moments.

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