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My daughter has recently found pure joy in a box of paper clips. It also went from joy to obsessive attachment pretty quickly, and became quite entertaining.
Early this past Saturday morning, she had a single jumbo paper clip that she had been playing with. She was having such a great time that when I came across a brand-new-never-opened box of clips as I was purging supplies, I offered it to her. She was giddy with delight over these paper clips! She exclaimed, “We’ll never have to buy jewelry again, we can just make it!” as she made several bracelets and necklaces after I showed her the amazing magic of linking the paper clips together.
She didn’t forget her first love, though. She held on to that first paper clip that she had been playing with. She could even tell it from the 20 other jumbo paper clips that looked just like it. She said it was bent differently.
She even clipped it onto the waistband of her pants so it could stay with her at all times.
She’s so loyal, she asked to sleep in her sweatpants instead of the red footed pajamas that she sleeps in “every single day of winter”, just so she could sleep with the paper clip attached to her pants.
Sunday morning, she wore it to church. I was starting to think I’ll never need to get her a dog.
After Sunday School, before heading into worship service we visited the restroom. Sometimes we share a stall, sometimes we don’t. This time we did. I went first, then she went. As she was turning to flush she saw it…
The paper clip had fallen off her pants and was in the toilet.
The water was not clear. Thankfully it was all liquid.
The devastated look on her face gave me no choice. Her new friend had just fallen in the toilet, and Mommy was going to have to come to the rescue.
(Thankfully, this really didn’t bother me. I mean, I’ve been peed on, pooped on, and puked on. This was a piece of cake!)
So, I stuck in my hand, pulled out the paper clip and proceeded to the sink to wash both my hands, and her little metal friend.
She was SO grateful, it definitely made it all worth the effort!
It amazes me how she finds joy in the little things like that. We have several little rocks, or a leaf, or a piece of paper that have become treasures to her. I love seeing how she gets so much pleasure from such tiny things.