The chapter in my life story entitled, The day my daughter left her glasses at the park has been for the most part concluded. Yes--the glasses were found. No---they were not in good shape. A little girl from our neighborhood found them at the playground today and turned them in to one of the coordinators.

***SIDE NOTE*** Our township has a summer playground program. This is run by a group of adults and teen volunteers and provides an opportunity for tons of kids to play there each weekday morning for a small fee for the entire summer****

The coordinator gave them to my daughter, but unfortunately they were quite mangled and were missing a lens. Hence, the bad news. We took them to our eye doctors and were greeting with quite a few perplexing looks. I wish I would have taken a picture of them....they had quite a story to tell.

Anyway, because DD has only had them for a little over 6 weeks and because she is only 9 years old, as a "customer courtesy" they are going to replace them free of charge. Yes, Virginia, there is a doctor's office that still believes in something called courtesy.

Is that good news or what? I can't believe it. I was speechless and if you knew me you would know how hard that is to accomplish! They told me that they can't promise to replace them again, but they will do it this time. Wow.

That neighborhood girl just saved this mom nearly $200 bucks. We stopped at the store on the way back from the eye doctors and bought her a cute little toy -- a doodle turtle in a purse. Gotta love that!

I'm taking a time out because I'm so annoyed right now I feel like maybe if I type it out I won't feel so ERRRRRRRRRR. As I type though the only sound I can hear is my children fighting with each other. My four year old has mastered the "mimicking" torture technique so he is repeating everything his sisters say. I'm pretty sure I just heard the 40th rendition of "knock it, off".

Anyway the source of my frustration is my oldest dd who decided to "forget" her glasses at the playground this morning. Both of my girls attend a summer playground program that runs each weekday morning from 9-12. There is about 100 kids there and I'm loosing any hope that the glasses were found by an adult.

Get this....she thinks that she left them on a bench by the sandbox but when I took her back over there she was looking all through the ground near the sandbox. I just don't need this additional expense right now.

Honestly, is it too much to expect that a 9 year old keep their glasses on their face.

“Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck,” chorused David as he reached down to pick up the tarnished jewel.
“There’s no such thing as luck,” said Kyle.
The boys were walking home on an autumn afternoon from the school bus stop. Kyle's depression was getting worse. He just hadn't been the same since his dad moved out.
David knew they were getting a divorce but his mom had told him it was impolite to talk to Kyle about it.
“Here,” David said, putting the penny in Kyle’s hand, “You’ll see. This penny is really lucky. I can feel it.
Kyle shrugged, “I doubt that. What good is a penny? You can’t buy anything with it and it sure ain’t gonna fix my mom and dad. It won’t bring them luck.”
David kicked a rock with his right foot, unsure what to say to his friend.
“The penny ain’t for them. It’s for you. Like it or not, Kyle, you are going to have to cheer up and deal with the fact that your dad isn't going to live with you anymore.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Kyle said, walking through the yard leading to his house, “See you tomorrow.”
“Don’t loose your penny,” David said with a smile. He was determined to prove to Kyle that it really would bring him luck even if it couldn’t fix his parents.
“Hi, I’m home,” David called out as he walked through the kitchen door.
“How was school?” his mom asked, as she hung up the phone.
“Good ‘cept Kyle’s still real sad about his Mom and Dad. How can I cheer him up? I found him a lucky penny, but he didn’t think it would bring him much luck.”
“I was just talking to his mom and she has a great idea about how to cheer him up, but needs our help," David's mom said, "Grab your coat. We’re going for a ride.”
David grabbed his jacket and pulled it on over his shoulders.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“You’ll see.”
Soon they arrived at the local animal shelter.
“What are we doing here, mom? We already have a dog and two cats.”
“The puppy’s not for us, David. It’s for Kyle.”
“COOL!” shouted David, anxious to pick the pup out.
They returned home with an eight week old copper-colored dashhound mix. She was short and stumpy and unbelievably cute. At dusk, David and his mom left the puppy on Kyle’s front porch, rang the doorbell, and ran away.
The next morning David could hardly wait to walk to the bus stop with Kyle. When the time came, he ran to his friend's house, attempting to appear unexcited.
“Come in and see what I got,” Kyle said. “You were right! I’m lucky.”
“What did you get?” David asked, even though he already knew.
“Look!” Kyle said, pointing to the puppy yapping happily at the boys from its box.
David bent down to pat it’s head.
“It was just sittin’ on our porch last night with a note sayin’ it was for me,” Kyle explained.
“See,” said David, “I knew that coin would bring you luck. What did you name her?”
Kyle smiled broadly, “Penny.”