Well, the auction was awful, or the best, depending on what child was asked. I try really hard to treat the girls equally and fairly, but life doesn’t always work that way. Just because I make sure holiday gifts all have the same monetary value, and both Bat Mitzvahs were equally done for each girl doesn’t mean that other things happen that way. So there are many times I am trying to congratulate and be happy for one while trying to console the other.
Before I left work Friday I received an email from Little One that she was the lowest bid. She was sad, embarrassed and upset. Husband and I were thinking that was going to happen, but there wasn’t much we could do about it. We tried, but this turned out to be one of those things we had to let go. The auction was done by age, so Little One went first as the youngest, and the only cheerleader not in high school. We all know the first person auctioned goes for the lowest, and it turned out that the other cheerleader’s friends had banded together and groups bought the cheerleaders. Except for Little One, because her friends couldn’t participate.
Because Little One was the lowest bid, of course Oldest One was the highest. Really, she was the highest. 11 of the seniors got together and bought Oldest One. She will have a busy day on Monday catering to 11 people. Little One was also bought by a senior (one who pitched in for Oldest One), our neighbor down the street, and he is a great kid. He will be very nice to her, although he did say she had to complete his assignments for the day (this is allowed for one-day assignments). On the drive home when Oldest One tried to talk to and reassure Little One she was shut down, and Little One wouldn’t talk to her…after all, she had gone for the most money. I was able to let Husband know before they got home, but she didn’t want to talk to him either. I got her to perk up by offering ice cream. Yes, that is my answer when nothing else works, ice cream.
I’ve also dealt with the reverse, when it was Oldest One feeling slighted. Two years ago the girls both tried out for a cheer team, and they both made it. For some reason the scores were released right after the teams were announced, instead of just announcing and not giving scores away, which is to me the best way to do it. Oldest One was very excited when she came up to me, telling me she had the second highest score, but she didn’t know who scored above her. Right on cue Little One came running up screaming she had the highest score. Some days you just can’t win.
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