"I told you two to quit throwing those toys at me, I'm trying to watch this movie!" giggle's filled the air as Honey bunny and Bulldog Jr. left the room. Within moments, I heard a smack as another toy hit bulldog, growling this time harsher, "I told you don't throw those toys at me, they hurt." Once again, the giggle's filled the air. No sooner had Bulldog turned around to watch his movie, when I heard, "This time I'm keeping your toys and you can't have them back until I say so." "Fine," screamed the two trouble makers now, one said, "I'll tell my Dad!" the other one said, "Oh, your just mean and won't let us have any fun." "Get out of here and go play somewhere else, I'm trying to watch this movie." The kids stormed out of our bedroom, leaving Bulldog alone fuming big time. At four a.m. the alarm went off, then silence, then the news on the television was filling the air. I drifted back to sleep until I heard Bulldog say, "Well, where is my other shoe? I know I put it right here when I took them off last night. I always put them right here next to each other," talking more to himself than to me. The grumbling became louder and more intense as Bulldog searched for his shoe. "Why don't you look under the bed?" I ask him. "Because its dark under there and I can't see a thing!" "Get your flashlight! Shine it under the bed, in the closet and under the chair, I'm sure you'll find it there someplace." Bulldog growled on, "I must be loosing my mind, maybe my age is catching up with me and I'm loosing my memory," on and on he went, but still the shoe seemed to be gone. "I guess I'll have to wear my other shoes and they hurt my feet. I'm going to be miserable all day long and I won't be able to sleep tonight because my feet will hurt so dadgome bad, now this is going to make my whole day." As he continued to growl and grumble it was hard for me not to break out into laughter, he looked so silly down on his hands and knees crawling around on the floor with flashlight in hand shining it all over the place; as he crawled all around the room looking for that one missing shoe. As Bulldog left for work, he was still grumbling and he no sooner got out the door until I broke into laughter over the mornings event. At long last I drifted back to sleep for a while still chuckling over the way this crazy morning had started off. Later I found Honey bunny (Our grandson) and Bulldog Jr. (Our granddaughter watching cartoons. "Hey, do you two know what happened to Poppy's shoe?" I received one, "No," and "Yep," I'll show you, its Wight over he-er," the four year old said. "How did it get over there?" I asked him. "Cause, I put it there," he said. I watched as he crawled out from underneath the chair and part of the table pulling out his grandpa's lost shoe with a big smile on his little face. Such innocence I thought, but happy to see that this little guy was trying to practice what I had been trying to teach him recently: treat others the way you would have them treat you. I didn't realize how much he had been paying attention to my words until now though. Hiding my laughter I took him to his parents to tell them about the mystery of the missing shoe. We all tried to hide our laughter as Honey bunnys dad said, "Why did you take Poppy's shoe?" In all innocence he said, "Cause Poppy took my toys and I wanted him to know how it feels to lose something you wuv." In all sincerity he was practicing what I had been trying to teach him, and now he was in trouble for it and I had to do something to make things right. Honey bunny literally made himself sick later that morning with worry of what his grandpa was going too do to him when he found out he was behind the missing shoe ordeal. In fact I was a little concerned also. I felt so sorry for the little guy; I ended up calling Bulldog at work to explain to him what had taken place. I figured Bulldog was going to be angry, but like the rest of us he broke out into laughter saying, "I guess, I ask for that one didn't I?' Honey bunny and Bulldog shared a few private words on the phone but I knew it was going well because Honey bunny had a smile on his face now from ear to ear. This was a lesson none of us would soon forget, "Why?" because we were all to busy snickering whenever we thought of this little escapade. The moral of this story is this: If you treat others the way you'd like to be treated then you don't have to suffer the consequences of your actions. This little four-year-old child realized there was a better way to handle things then with anger or violence. He also learned that treating others the way you want to be treated isn't a hoax, because he learned discipline, love, and honesty are the best policy after all; and that forgiveness comes when we own up to our mistakes we make, and by apologizing to someone for the crime committed. When we treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves makes for a brighter, happier day. Little Spider
