Entrepreneurship

 Freestone, on our trip to Elko, suddenly developed a burning desire to own a set of Sharpie markers.  He comes up with these plans, fully formed in his mind, but ineligible for articulation.  So all I knew was that he needed markers desperately, for some unknown reason.  I promised I would buy him some when we got home.  Markers in hand, he got to work on his masterpiece:  a sign advertising Tang for 50 cents.  So that's why he needed markers.  Why couldn't he have said that?

All morning, the kid perfected his sign, made Tang, hauled it to the curb on a blanket (It was very heavy and sloshy), went to Coco's to borrow a wagon, and made the trek, Tolly and Tizzy trailing behind, to the corner.  There, he shouted at cars, "It's only fifty cents!  It comes in a BIG red cup!"

Meanwhile, I was ready to go to lunch with my friends and all three older girls had left for girls camp.  I was in the rare position of not having a babysitter, and three of my kids were standing on the street corner with a sign that may as well have said, "Kidnap me!"  I watched them for awhile, while I tried to find someone who wasn't at camp to come over and babysit.  Having secured a couple of enthusiastic girls to babysit, I left Tizzy and Xanthe home with them, but drove off leaving my boys to earn their living on the street corner, shouting ineffectually at passing cars.  I have to admit, I was nervous leaving them, but "live by what you know, not by what you fear" means believing that a safe neighborhood is safe, and letting the kids have some independence.

 When I got back from lunch, Freestone had made ten dollars, but had quit because his throat hurt from all the yelling.  The kid worked so hard, from the procuring of the markers to the design and execution of the sign, to the busking on the street corner, while trying to save both the Tang and the profit jar from Tizzy's thieving hands.

Later, when I dropped Ptolemy and Freestone off at Cherry Hill for more "independence," while I hosted a violin recital at home, Freestone had five dollars in his pocket to spend.  I am convinced it was one of the most exhilarating days of my boys' lives, earning some money and spending it freely, with nobody to tell them what to buy or how much to spend.  Freestone cashed in his bill for 20 quarters, which were then exchanged for treasures in abundance from the 25 cent candy/toy machines in the arcade.

Even though I wasn't there for most of the lemonade stand, or any of the spending, I caught a strong whiff of the boys' exhilaration when I went to meet them at Cherry Hill.  Their penny loafers sat off to the side, bulging with little plastic, toy-filled bubbles, representing summer at its purest.  (Even if most kids don't necessarily wear penny loafers to the water park!)  We all ate hot dogs and chips, and the kids all ran off to waterslide.  I stretched out on the cool, green grass and looked up at the clear, unclouded sky.  Tricia and Jim stopped by for a chat, and Scott came to challenge Freestone to a mini golf game.  That night, I fervently wished summer would never, ever end.