Hey guys! So this really has nothing to do with my one year on fanfiction, but I wanted to share this since it got me thinking. But still, if you're reading this, my fanfiction anniversary is on Friday, so thank you for being so supportive of me this year! Before you read this though, if you don't know what a pack it lunchbox is, you should probably Google it, and yes, this did actually happen.
I was either eight or nine the first time Margo and I saw infomercial that would turn our lives upside down. From the first time we saw the ad for pack it lunchboxes, we knew we just had to have one. They were just so amazing with how they had built in ice boxes so you could shove the whole thing in the freezer. They even stayed cold longer than an average lunch box and ice block! I think it's safe to say that we were obsessed.
Then came the day when Mom was watching tv with us when the ad came on. Margo and I asked her if we could get them. First she admitted that they were pretty neat, then crushed our hearts when she saw the price. We wouldn't be getting them.
Margo and I saw them at Target sometime later, and even for a reduced price! Since getting those was practically our obsession, we had the nerve to ask again.
"Margo, Essy, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, they're out of the budget. Your old lunch boxes are fine anyway," Mom had told us.
Maybe that's what our lunch boxes were. Old. We secretly agreed to save up our allowances for pack its after that. Even though only a few people at our school actually had them, we felt as if we were the only ones in the whole world who didn't have them, and Mom was depriving us of that.
We got our allowance on Saturdays, and we'd always hurry up to our rooms to go count our money and see if we had enough for the pack its yet. Even when Margo reached what she needed, she promised to wait until I had enough before she got hers. I was younger and had a smaller allowance at the time.
Finally the day came when we both finally had enough. We gleefully took all our cash downstairs and showed it to our mom asking if we could get them now that we'd saved up all the money.
Mom told us no. We didn't need them, surely we weren't the only ones who didn't have pack its, our old lunch boxes were just fine again, they'd probably get outphased soon, and we were about to go on spring break and should use our money on cool souvenirs that would last.
We walked away whimpering. Couldn't Mom see that getting these would make us happy? If she wanted what was best for us, her own two daughters, why wouldn't she let us get pack its which were just simply the best things on the market?
The souvenirs we got were cool I guess, but Margo and I were too disappointed in not getting our pack its to really realize the value in the matching necklaces we got from Sea world until sometime later when pack its weren't such a fad anymore.
I'd actually forgotten about pack its. My mom as much as I'd hated to admit it was right, they outphased quickly. Even when my old lunch box had an uncleanable applesauce explosion, I didn't jump at the chance to get a pack it but went with a more practical Vera Bradley lunchbox my mom was able to score for cheap at an outlet mall.
Then just this afternoon, I received a text from Margo reminding me of our obsession:
Hey Essy! Remember when we wanted pack its so bad? I saw them at Khol's today. Mom was right. Does anybody actually use these anymore?
I actually laughed. Nobody that I know of still uses them only Margo and I couldn't see that. I wish we could've been able to see the big picture like Mom did. I think that would've saved us a lot of trouble. Really, when I look back now, it's a lot like when we ask God for something and He says no. It's not because He doesn't love us, it's because God knows what's best for us even when it may stink for a bit.
We can try all we want to see the big picture and decide what's best for ourselves, but really only God can do that. I'm going to try to think about it that I now.
I hope you all enjoyed! That's been a really great teaching moment for me today. Margo and I were texting back and forth a bit how silly we were earlier. So my question for you guys is have you ever had something you've wanted so bad but you couldn't have it and now looking back, you can't believe you actually wanted it? That's all, see ya!
#God's Not Dead!
