the important things in life

This past week during a shopping trip at Target, I passed an aisle that had children's stepstools, and it made me laugh.

During the first week we had our little friends staying with us, they were flabbergasted to discover that Mrs. Monica was missing some very important household items. One was a stepstool. "You mean you don't have one AT ALL? Then HOW are we to brush our teeth or go to the potty?" We improvised with some little chairs I have. It didn't turn out to be the safest route, but it worked for the time.

The second week, I was informed I needed a new refrigerator. Ours makes funny noises sometimes, so I fearfully asked "Why?" I get another one of those "Don't you know anything this is SOOO obvious" looks with the response "Refrigerators are supposed to have a place for ice and water on the front. If you had that we could get our own drinks without asking."

It's funny, but they were the second family this summer to inform me we needed a "modern" refrigerator. I had bought a crushed ice machine with a coupon I had at Kohl's this summer, and a family member thought that was crazy. Why buy another gadget when I could just update my refrigerator with one that did the same thing? Hmmm....a $90 ice machine with a coupon that only cost me $50, or a $1,400 (or more) appliance....that one wasn't hard for me to figure.

But it is interesting the things we grow accustomed to in our households and miss when we are elsewhere. I'm guilty of taking our window-filled house for granted until I visit somewhere else and feel almost trapped with so little light.

I think when people are in different surroundings and what is for them, unusual circumstances, people make do with what is there. But I find it interesting that the necessities we tend to take for granted, but it's the tiny luxuries (whether internet or stepstools) we're accustomed to that tend to throw us for a loop when we must do without.