Last night at the dinner table I was addressing the very serious phenomenon of “long term borrowing” I’ve witnessed of late in the Singleton household. What I’ve seen is not quite as bad as stealing, and not quite as trivial as simple borrowing (where you actually ask first). But it is a state of borrowing that seems to have no back end, no expiration date, no return policy…
I’ve seen book holders disappear from my study,
· flashlights
· books
· my kindle (e book holder)
· hiking sticks
· pocket knife
· little screw driver
· magnifying glass
· sunglasses
· computer plug
· printer cables
· and a whole host of other things
All of this was seriously pushing me back toward the belief in elves I had as a child. In fact, I was finding more evidence for the tiny, fairy like creatures as an adult than I ever discovered as a kid.
Why do things keep disappearing around here?! I asked – not so calmly.
For each item my somewhat perplexed children had a perfectly legitimate response.
· “I needed the magnifying glass to torture fire ants,” Nathan said
· “I was using the book holder as a movie screen for my littlest petshop audience,” Juliana offered as though that should settle it for any rational person.
· “I used your pocket knife to make arrows for my homemade bow and arrow,” Nathan followed up
And on and on they went down the list ticking through each item like items on a grocery list. Once their rock solid defense was given they went on eating as though that took care of it.
Maybe it did for them, but I sure had a problem with it!!!
Until Nathan looked up from his pork chops and said, “Hey dad, you could maybe blog about this. You could call it, “The Borrowers.”
So I did.