I have my strengths. I am not ashamed of acknowledging my weaknesses. I’ve shared my horror stories of how many people I needed to screw in a lightbulb. Or the time when I was trying to put the Barbie Dream House together four years. I ended up drinking egg nog and called my daddy to save the day.
My friend Elisabeth told me about this gift she was getting for her daughter. I thought that Sydney would enjoy that gift. It would give us a great opportunity to initiate conversation. The toy was Our Generation Academy.
Well I searched for the item and it was not available in Delaware or for shipping from any Target stores. I called my good friend Hatty, who lives in Michigan. Within two hours she had the gift in her possession. Hatty has three boys and has always loved Sydney. So this gift wasn’t from Santa. It was from Auntie Hatty.
The problem was how to get the gift from Michigan. It would cost more than the actual toy to ship it. Hatty’s niece was home that weekend. She drove the gift back to Maryland for me. She even took it another step further and delivered the gift to my house with her friends. That was such a blessing.
Syd was excited to get the gift on Christmas. But I waited until yesterday to actual open it. I admit I was scared when I saw some adult assembly required. I kept telling myself, step by step I can do this.
I am not good at assembling things. This time I was determined to put this together for her. Things started off well. Of course I would need batteries. That’s when my girlfriend Katie came to my rescue.
I only said the F word once, when I couldn’t get a part to snap tightly. Sydney was getting very excited but I couldn’t get the fire alarm to work. That’s when she said “We’re all gonna die.”
The set is amazing. It comes with a desk, chairs, a working clock, chalkboard, lights on the smartboard and so much more. Sydney and I played for over an hour. The lesson was about Egypt of course. She was doing a great job processing and being the teacher.
I am proud of myself for not giving up. Yes, I know I didn’t build a shelf or stain furniture. But for me putting that school-house together was a mission accomplished. Don’t worry Sydney wasn’t around when I dropped the F word.
A Woman's Work - Brooke Basically Blogging 