The Hard Way

I stole something from a store, once.

I think I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, and I went with my Mom to a craft store, similar to Michael's or Joanne's. While there, I was handling these little fuzzy pompoms. I have no idea what possessed me to stick some up my sleeve and walk out the door, but I did. When Mom (who paid for her items!) and I headed out across the parking lot to the car, she looked behind me to see a little trail of fuzzy pompoms following me on the ground. Upon questioning, I told her that I had put them up my sleeve to "see how they felt" (a lie), and forgot they were there. She let it go...for a while. A few hours after we got home, she questioned me again. (This is where I'm missing some details. I can't remember if she discovered me with more pompoms, or if she just had a feeling...) This time I admitted that I had stolen the pompoms, and, essentially, for no good reason. She marched me back to the store to apologize to the woman at the cash register for having stolen from the store. The woman was FAR too nice to me, and I specifically remember her saying, "Oh, that's okay, we all make mistakes." And while it is true that we all make mistakes, it was NOT okay, and I knew it. That experience has since prevented me from stealing.

(Also, there was a little incident with a person in my life involving stealing from a drug store and getting caught by the security camera, but it's not my place to tell that one.)

Two days ago I lost a glove in Best Buy. Losing a glove is so very frustrating to me because I hate waste--and one glove that doesn't match is a waste. So Munchkin and I stopped at Target yesterday with the hope of getting another pair of gloves identical to the $10 pair I had purchased from there in the first place. I scoured the winter accessories aisles and almost gave up when something on the ground drew my attention. Aha, the gloves! There was one pair of black, fleece, Thinsulate-lined gloves on the floor...separated from each other...with no tags. Literally, it looked as though the gloves had simply fallen out of someone's pockets. I was SO tempted to simply pick up one of the gloves, the left one, and ditch the store completely.

Two things stopped me: I distinctly remember the feeling l had as a child when I had to apologize to Craft Store Lady, and it wasn't a good one. I felt like garbage about myself, and I remember thinking "if only" I hadn't stolen that day, "if only" I had just put the darn pompoms back, I wouldn't have ruined my entire life. Dramatic, I know, but I was eight. Of course, the other thing stopping me was my son's innocent face in his stroller. Even though he wouldn't have been aware of my bad behavior, I don't think that future me would ever have the nerve to march HIM back to Craft Store Lady to apologize for stealing if I wasn't able to learn from my mistakes. So I paid another $10 for the gloves with no tags.

The funny thing is, if I hadn't gotten caught stealing from the craft store, I probably would have done it again. Strange how some people just have to learn the hard way.