It is a little after three in the morning, and I am still reeling from my daughter’s birthday. In my family, we have a tradition. Every birthday person gets a certain amount of money and their special day. However, after 12 AM hits, all bets are off.

Well, since COVID-19 happened, we had to cut back on somethings. This year we put in place a $100 maximum per birthday. Last month was the 15-year old’s birthday, and she lost 50 of her 100 at the mall. A typical birthday is celebrated all day until midnight. Every single person in the family watches the shows that are picked by the birthday girl or boy. It can be hell day for the ones of us who hate anime, or horror shows because you can bet one of those two will be on the menu. However, most of the time the birthday person picks a meal that the entire family likes which makes up for the horrible shows!!!!

The entire week including on the 27th, my daughter was adamant about not wanting 100 bucks because she said it wouldn’t buy anything. She wanted $200 and insisted that we fork over $200 or nothing at all. I informed her; that she was headed for a rude awakening, but she insisted that she would not be part of any celebrations if we gave her 100.

So, yesterday came, and I didn’t give her anything. She woke up, and it pretty much went downhill from there. She didn’t want to watch anything; she wanted to argue the entire time. I went into my room and shut the door. Hours later, she was ready to be civil, she was happy to finish her day off with cake and dinner.

I told my husband that I wasn’t sure about not giving her the money but that she needed to understand the meaning of gratefulness. I explained to her that there is a country full of people who cannot even get a pack of chicken for dinner, but she had the nerve to stick her nose up at $100 bucks because it wasn’t enough. Part of me feels bad about not giving it to her, but the other part feels like she got the message. Afterward, when she asked if maybe we would think about giving it to her later, it looked like she understood that it was a blessing instead of a big fat nothing. It was a hard day, but I think it a lesson in humility was needed. People do what they can , and it is a blessing no matter the gift.