I finally had a chance to talk to my sister today about what's been going on with Darth Vader lately. The shoe issue. AND how she tried to give us a verbal slap in the face when she basically wrote SS9's speech for him and had all kinds of things like "at OUR house we believe this is good for kids" and "at OUR house my mom does special things for birthdays". The poor kid just wanted to write a speech about how he has lots of family and such.

The day SS9 came to school with the 3 pairs of shoes for us, he had also shaken his foot at me and said, "Look!!" I knew he was trying to show off yet another pair of brand-new high end brand name sneakers (which of course, matched his brand new brand name shirt in color and design). I said, "Are you ok? Is something wrong with your foot?" (I felt a little bad here...he put his head down kind of ashamededly) "No, I just wanted you to see my new shoes." "Oh, they're nice. Oh, and here's your lunch box, I put this and this in it today. Have a good day! Love you!" And I sent him on his way.

Well I was relating this to my sister and she said, "Every moment doesn't have to be a teachable moment for SS9." It really hit home.

He KNOWS we (i.e., ME) do things way differently than his mom. He KNOWS we (i.e., ME) disagree with just about every thing she stands for. He knows all this without being explicitly told. It is not my job to make a point with every.single.situation.that.crops.up!

So, thank you sister.

Let go, and let God!