this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

Each afternoon, the kids and I cuddle on the couch together and watch Arthur on PBS.  I love the real-world lessons that this show teaches and one particular episode last week was no exception.

Arthur wanted a new bike and had saved enough money to pay for half of it (his dad was going to pay for the other half).  As he went with his dad to buy his new bike, he started thinking about how much he'd miss his old bike, and I thought I knew exactly where this was all going.  Arthur's bike was going to turn out to be not as great as he imagined and he'd regret his purchase. 

But I was far from correct on that one.  Arthur's bike was wonderful, so wonderful in fact that he didn't want to use it for fear of getting it dirty or denting it.  His friends tried to convince him that that is what bikes are for, but Arthur didn't buy it - his bike was special, after all.  So instead of riding it, he kept it in his room and he covered it with a sheet.

One night during a dream, Arthur is visited by a ghost who takes him around town to show him various people who all have things they love but don't use.  He shows him his own mother, who is cleaning her china.  When Arthur asks what it is, the ghost says, "it's china, people get it when they get married, but never eat off of it".  Ouch.  We have a complete set of china, and though we have used it, it's been at least four years since it's seen the light of day.  Anyway, the ghost gets his point across, and Arthur heads off with his friends on a bike ride. 

How silly to want something so badly, to save up for it even, and then never even use it for fear of, well, using it.  "I'm saving it for a special occasion" is an excuse I often use.  But what makes an occasion "special"?  Why can't a random Wednesday in November be special?  What if by the time the right occasion comes, the item has become obsolete or simply ruined because it's just too old?  What if that special occasion never come?

Maybe it's time to brush the dust off those items.