The 4 Dollar Fire Truck

There is a fire truck in my kids toy box that I can't seem to ever get rid of. Whenever I am cleaning up their room, I come across this toy fire truck and it makes me smile, but also makes me a little emotional. I could get rid of it. I could put it in a yard sale, I could donate it. The buttons don't work as well as they used to and the lights don't light up very bright. The noises it makes sound pretty sad and my boys don't really play with it. They used to. They have moved on to different toys now. But, every day, while picking up their bedroom and making beds I see this little fire truck and it reminds me of where we came from.

Our oldest child's first Christmas was an interesting one. Thank goodness he won't remember it. He was almost one, since his birthday is at the beginning of January. We lived in a very old house, with poor insulation, not a very good furnace, in the cold Idaho winter. My husband was working two jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. The heat was turned down low and we wore sweaters and sat with blankets on our laps to save as much money as we could.

As Christmas was approaching, I realized we had very little money to buy any sort of Christmas gifts. We had just found out we were expecting our second child, and things were tighter than ever. I saved and saved, finding money here and there to help our little Christmas fund. There were few presents under our tree that year. I couldn't buy a tree skirt, so I used a fleece blanket with candy canes on it to improvise. Our son had 4 presents under the tree that year. A sleeper fleece pajama that I had saved from a baby shower, so it still had tags on it. A Christmas book from the dollar store. A little set of blocks from the dollar store, and this 4 dollar fire truck. I was shocked at the clearance price at a discount store in town, so I snatched it up and wrapped it.

My husband and I didn't have much that year for Christmas. I put some of his soap in his stocking to make it look full, and I added a few pieces of candy. We had a couple small gifts from each other.

My son loved that fire truck the minute he opened it. He pushed the buttons on it continuously and drove it around all day. He didn't know we were poor. He didn't know we were struggling. He was happy and content knowing that he had a brand new toy to play with.

Now, 5 years later. I still have this little 4 dollar fire truck. And, it reminds me where I came from. We were struggling. We were poor. We had close to nothing. But, we had each other. And, there was a lot of love in our home. When I am feeling pretty down or feel like life is beating me up, I think of that little fire truck and remember that winter. When pride has taken over and I'm a little over confident in myself, I think of that little fire truck.

I surely could get rid of that little fire truck. It's rarely played with. The buttons don't work. But, the memories and feelings that flood through my heart when I see that 4 dollar truck is worth more than anything.

Remember your past. Remember where you came from. Keep growing. Keep going. But, never forget your struggles and how you grew and what you learned from them.