*This cup.* His name is Stanley. He looks innocent enough, but he’s everything that’s wrong today. First, how can a cup–a cup?–cost $35?! Second, more importantly, how was I bamboozled into buying this cup for my fifth grader?
This cup has become a problem.
When my daughter gets ready for school, I think: did you remember your Stanley? And when she gets home: did you remember your Stanley?
He is another child.
Like, I don’t have time to worry about an expensive cup!
I want the cup, though. I must admit. It would be delish to keep my wine cool or my coffee hot. I secretly covet him. Thou shalt not covet your daughter’s cup. John: 2023.
“Everyone cares about Lulu Lemon and Stanley’s!” she says.
I cared about stickers. I think they were $5 a pack. The oilys were more expensive than the puffys or the scratch n’ sniffs.
What the hell is happening here?? It seems we–and by ‘we,’ I also mean me…I am guilty, too–have lost sight of what is important.
What’s important is our family, our health, the friends we make and cherish. What’s important is what we learn, what we share, what we care for. What’s important is the ocean and the earth and the trees, and our next generations.
What is not important is Stanley.
Stanley, I am breaking up with you.
