Giving without Expecting ANYTHING in Return

Okay, okay, I've learned my lesson.

It is so MUCH better to give without expecting ANYTHING in return.

And let me just tell you why.

I had this HUGE bag of baby clothes that were being added upon weekly.

Only six months worth of baby clothes, thank heavens, because I donated the first three months of clothes to a high school fundraising yard sale a few months ago.

Anywho, I had this HUGE bag of baby clothes(did I say that already?) and most of the clothes, okay, at least half of the clothes were NEW. The rest were very gently used.

So I decided I would try my luck and take this HUGE bag to a store that promises CASH for new and gently used baby things.

"Goody!" I thought, "Maybe I'll have enough dough for a small down payment on a gently used high chair to add to our dining area."

So I dropped this HUGE goody bag off at the store that promises CASH for baby things and I anxiously awaited their call.

I wait overnight, into the next morning and into that afternoon.

Well, by that afternoon I was experiencing such an EXTREME case of head pain that I had to take 800 mg of ibuprofen and lay down my head to see if that would do anything to take the pounding, throbbing, intense pain away.

And it was sometime during that dazey-doze of mine that the phone rings.

And I answer.

And it is a woman from the store who promises CASH for baby things. (Did I happen to mention that the HUGE bag I dropped off was filled with had new and very, gently used baby clothing???)

And here's how the conversation went down:

"Hello."

"Hello, this is the store that promises CASH for baby things."

"Oh yes," I muster, because my head is simply p-o-u-n-d-i-n-g out of my skull and my eyelids are the only things that are protecting my eyeballs from exploding, it hurts THAT bad.

"Um, your total CASH back is $3.38."

"Uh, . . . kay."

"Bye."

THREE DOLLARS AND THIRTY-EIGHT CENTS? Was she serious?

It cost me more in gas to drive that darn HUGE bag of new and gently used clothes to the store that offers CASH for baby things.

And I thought my head couldn't throb anymore than it already did!

And that is where I've learned my lesson to give without expecting anything in return.

Which means from here on out I drop off any and all HUGE bags of new and gently used baby clothes at the local thrift store.

Because it's a heck of a lot more satisfying than $3.38!