It’s been a busy month at our house. The main event during this hectic month that just passed is my daughter’s graduation from high school. We’ve been celebrating since last month when she received her acceptance letter to college. Follow that with all the end of school events for three daughters and you can see how hectic things have been around our house. It’s a good kind of chaos though, one that I’m sure I am not the only parent to welcome.

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It’s that time of year again. Yep, the most wonderful time of the year for parents according to the Staples commercial but really it’s an anxiety filled time of year for parents and students alike. For some students like my high school senior, it just may be the most wonderful time of the year. She was so looking forward to going back to school and being with her friends and favorite teachers again. But then, she has always looked forward to going back to school ever since her big sister had to leave her behind that first year when she, the first of my kids, started kindergarten.

This photo was taken twelve years ago. This year, they are all on another milestone. My little kindergartner in this photo just started as a freshman in college. Her sister who was so sad to see her go to school is now entering her senior year of high school and the baby I was holding in my arms is now a seventh grader! How did time fly so fast? I am close to tears just looking at these little girls twelve years ago.

We were at Walmart last week and we were on the self-check-out line. You know, where you scan your items yourself then pay for it all on your own? The girls usually like doing this part, and since we didn’t really get a whole lot, we decided to get on the self-service line.

We got up to the register and as my older daughter started scanning our items, I was riffling through my purse to see if I had any coupons to use. All of a sudden my youngest daughter started nudging us, saying, “Look! someone left their money in there!” pointing to the small receptacle below the scanning area where cash is dispensed if you have change or if you took some cash back.

Sure enough, when we looked there was a crisp ten dollar bill laying there. My teenager’s first reaction was, “Cool! we get ten bucks!” Well, she didn’t say it exactly that way, but her eyes did lit up. haha! But her little sister, before we could say anything said, “We have to give it back! What if some poor person comes back for it because it’s their only money left?”

So I took the cash and went over to the cashier for the self-checkout lines and told her we found the bill. She gave me the funniest look. Like she was trying to figure out if I was pulling her leg or what. Then she reached over to accept the money and said “Thank You”

I walked back to where the girls were and we finished checking out. I had a Walmart discount to use so I finished the payment process and we started walking out of the store. That’s when the lady at the register looked at us again and this time she said, “Thank you for returning the money! I will set it aside for when the person comes back for it”. She had a surprised but pleased look on her face. I guess not too many people would have returned the money. It took her a few minutes to process. lol!

And after I thought about it, I wonder if I would have kept the money too? It’s would have been so easy to simply pocket the bill and have some spare change for free. But then, the more I thought about it, it would have been a heavy spare change to carry. It would have been like weighing not only my pockets but my conscience too. After all, isn’t this just the kind of lesson that we all try to teach our kids? I was glad my daughter learned the lesson, resisted the temptation and kept the rest of us honest.