I will never forget it!!
I was about 6 years old when I first saw it. I was in love!!! I know, that seems kinda materialistic, but I really loved it and wanted it. Every time I saw it in the store, I would take the box off the shelf, open the lid that folds down inside the top, and just look! All those colors, they were so beautiful. Then I would smell. Mmmmmmmmm! Even weirder, huh? I think my favorite thing of all was the sharpener built-in. Crayons AND a sharpener built-in?
What more could a 6 year
old ask for?
Well, the thing is, I never asked for them. I thought they were too expensive. I finally told my mom one day, long after I was a grown up. In passing, I said, “Oh yeah, I always wanted that box of Crayola Crayons.” She was surprised!! “Really? Why didn’t you ask for it?” I told her how I thought they were too expensive, and that I didn’t want to be a burden. It made her feel sad. It was a revelation to her that I wanted something and never asked, and it was a revelation to me that I could have asked.
The lesson is, even if we felt, a little like we went without as children, we survived.
In fact, I would say I flourished and am a better person for it. It doesn’t hurt us to go without. It builds character, gives us empathy, and helps us to understand each other better.
FYI-
I now have a box of
Crayola Crayons,
a 64 box with a sharpener built in, and I still love them!!!
Hey Joy
I used to do the same thing. The crayons were at the back of Leon's Market and I would go back there and see the crayons and just wish for them. I later earned enough money to buy some and oh how beautiful they looked. I still get sad when one gets broken or you have to start peeling the paper down to sharpen them. Cute story.