Time to come clean

My children's penchant for going into my closet and harvesting all the coins that fall from our pockets reminded me of a story.

Back in middle school, our classes started later than the high school that my two oldest sisters attended. One day, in the lull between them going and me, I was desperate for 50 cents to spend at lunch. I was reduced to going to the only place in the house where I knew money would be left lying around. My sisters room. I crept in and glanced around. The bright purple carpet made spotting random quarters and dimes easy and in no time, I had a generous handful and convinced myself that they would never notice since they were just leaving it on the floor. By the time I reached the door however, my concience got the better of me and I thought I needed to work for my "payment." I spent the next five minutes picking up clothes and making their beds, and left feeling vindicated for my theft.

After school that afternoon, I found out that Dad had noticed the clean room and praised them and gave them money as a reward. They asked me if I had been the cleaning elf and when I confessed to that (but not the theft) they took me to pizza hut for lunch to say thanks.

So, here you go Jen and Bek; I'm sorry I stole 50 cents from you (probably more than once, actually) and then took the credit for being a nice kid. Although to be fair, I think you took the credit when dad was impressed that your room was so clean And you each got $5 out of the deal, so you profited $4.75 each. But, if you want, I am willing to come clean your rooms again as penance (I don't take money off the floor anymore). And thanks for the pizza!