He's a good boy, my son.

About a month ago, I took JJ to a doctor's appointment first thing in the morning. Because I didn't pack him a lunch, JJ and I stopped by the grocery store after the appointment to grab something before I dropped him off at playschool. As soon as we entered the store, a clearance rack of Easter stuff caught JJ's eye. He immediately fell in love with a plush blue bunny, and had to have it. Even on my strict budget, it was easy to come up with the 60 cents to make it his.

So, with bunny in cart, JJ and I headed to the back of the store to see what we could find for his lunch that day. After settling on a pre-packaged lunch, we then proceeded to the checkout counter. And that's when JJ saw it... a ginormous tub of Utz's pretzel rods.

"Oh," exclaimed JJ, "My friends would love these!"

"I bet you're right, but you already have snacks at playschool, buddy," I reminded him, noting the slightly more than $6 price tag that definitely did not fit in my budget.

"I know Mom, but they would really, really love these! Can we get them? Please?"

"I tell you what," I tried, figuring that I could find a cheaper option, "Why don't we go to the next aisle and see if we can find a bag of pretzels for you to take in and share with your friends?"

"No, Mom. My friends would really love these, and I really want to get them for them," he calmly pleaded.

In a dash of desperation, I picked up the blue bunny that JJ had been coddling. "Which would you rather have: the blue bunny for you, or the pretzel rods for your friends?"

JJ looked at that bunny. He looked at the tub of pretzels. And then he slowly handed me the bunny. "Mom, I want to get the pretzels to share with my friends."



In that instant, I would have paid $100 for that tub of pretzels.

And you know that bunny was waiting in the car for him when playschool was over.