Lesson Learned

There once was a mommy who knew she needed to purchase new snowpants for her little girl.

She'd browse quickly if she was out shopping (which was not too often, as free time comes at a premium and shopping with the little girl didn't usually qualify as fun).

The snowpants she came across were never in the correct size, seemed inadequate for extended play in the snow, or weren't the right color.

So, the mommy continued to look whenever she had the opportunity, but looked at the mission as more of a side dish than a main entree. I think this mommy secretly believed that if she didn't give it enough thought, it might just never snow.

What do you know?

Along came a huge snowstorm.

As the world majority of RI was preparing by stocking up on extra milk and bread, the mommy started to get nervous, remembering the lack of those pants.

Forget milk and bread. With a preschooler at home, the mommy had plenty of each.

But the pants.

She started calling every store she could think of to see if they had snowpants - even if they were two sizes too big. Surely, this would be the first year her little girl would be begging to play in all that freezing white goodness at its first sight.

The mommy even sent the daddy (trying to get home from work before the storm set in) in pursuit of the pants, trusting him to bring home whatever might possibly work even if they were a boy's size 8.

Unfortunately, even in this economy, all the other mommies and daddies seem to have planned better than this mommy.

Not one store had snowpants.

The mommy felt like they were laughing at her every time she hung up the phone.

The mommy hung her head in despair.

By this point, the preschooler had heard the whole frantic exchange and had now started asking questions. More questions than usual, which caused a bit of added stress for the mommy.

In one last attempt before deciding if necessary she'd dress the little girl in 10 layers of clothing so she could warmly and dryly play in the snow, the mommy decided to try calling her next door neighbor, who had two older girls of her own.

The mommy then decided to try to focus on other things, until she saw her neighbor's SUV pull into the cul-de-sac.

When the phone rang just minutes later, and the mommy saw the caller ID, her heart dropped. Surely, her last attempt had failed.

But what?

The neighbor had no idea how, but had a pair of size 4T snowpants (in hot pink). They were not packed away in some obscure place (as they would in this mommy's house) and her girls were on there way over to deliver them!

The doorbell rang as the mommy was singing her neighbor's praises.

Crisis averted.

Lesson learned.

This year, the mommy might just be buying snowpants on clearance (if they ever come back in stock) and putting them away for next year when she will undoubtedly be unable to locate them and induce yet another crisis.

The best moment for the mommy?

This morning the little girl was running around the house excitedly chattering about all of the snow (somewhere around 10-12").

She quickly spotted her "new" outdoor gear in the kitchen and said "Mommy, I'm so proud of you for finding me snowpants!"

Luckily (as this comment was made at approximately 7AM) she didn't ask to try them out!