"And Where is that Going?"

When I was a young child, the idea of something not being just as good as the commercial was preposterous! The television tells no lies! I desperately wanted a Bratz shopping center thingemebob, and I saved up for it for months. It was $50, and I could usually get $5 an hour for pulling prickly, thorny weeds in our backyard. A-go-ny. But I managed to save up my meager funds, and as soon as I had the moolah, I begged mom to take me to Target to claim my prize. I raced to the toy aisles, and snatched the box off the shelf. Mom just had to ruin the moment.

"Where are you going to put that thing?" she asked, incredulous that I would buy the lump of plastic and estrogen. In my room, duh. I shrugged, not worrying about the floorspace it would take up, or how many of the tiny pieces I would lose. "How long do you plan to play with it?" I paused. I had no idea! That had honestly never crossed my mind! I looked at the picture printed on the front of the box, and wondered how many hours it would take for me to get bored with it, and eventually give it to my younger cousin. The number was frighteningly small.

My mother smiled, knowing she had pushed the correct button on the thought-o-machine. I put the box back on the shelf, giving in one last wistful look before wandering into other aisles with my mother. She was thinking triumphant thoughts, I knew it.

As muh as I hated my mother for thwarting my fun, she had a valid point. Not too many years later, I saved up over $100 dollars to buy a PDA (I was still in middle school), and my mom kept asking why on earth I needed one. I said "Because!" every single time. She offered to lend me her old one, just so I could get used to the idea of having one, and I accepted. I figured it would show her how I really did need one.The PDA sat in its charger for days a time. I took it out occasionally to check the date or play solitaire, but that was it. Darn, Mom was right again.

As a young child it wasn't hard for me to save up money to get things- I didn't have much to spend it on other than candy. The issue came when I wanted to spend large quantities of it. Mom did her best to guide me in the right direction. For some things, she just couldn't help me. For others, she saved me countless mistakes, and probably more money than I've squandered over the years combined.