It's a president's day miracle.

About I-don't-know-how-many years ago I offered Mini-baboo a cell phone (he desperately wanted one) if and only if he brought his grades up to Bs and above and kept them there, and damned if he didn't recently pull this off.

Of course, he's about to turn 17, so this might have happened anyway; that seems to be the time when the hormone-driven insanity cools, but FOLKS, know that I've made ALL KINDS of bribery type promises to all my kids in the hopes of getting one of those bumper stickers that says, "MY CHILD IS AN HONOR STUDENT AT..." before I finally just bought one that says, "I LOVE MY KIDS...WHETHER OR NOT THEY'RE HONOR STUDENTS."

But I did make all those promises and then relaxed, knowing I'd never have to pony up the dough, or drivers training, or cell phones....because they had the same attitude about grades that I had when I was in high school, "hey, no worries, 'tsall good, I'll graduate! Stop worrying!"

But darn it, the kid pulled it off. So, I prepared myself to deliver the promised cell phone, as I am a woman of my word, but THEN, about a week before I was to get him set up, out of the clear blue sky, came THIS question:
"Hey, mom, I've been kinda thinking - I haven't really made up my mind yet, but I was wondering - could I, you know, instead of a cell phone, could I have a gym membership instead?"

Now here's the MIRACLE part: not just that he chose gym membership over cell phone, or that the gym he wants to join is about a mile from his school and a little over a mile from our house, but the cool part is that I was going to get him a gym membership anyway. SCORE! But, you know, he might still be of a mind to turn away from anything that causes a parent too much pleasure, so I was cool and hid my giddiness. So I shrugged, Huh. Well, I guess I might consider that...you sure you want this?

"I haven't really made up my mind for sure."

But then, he preceded to try to further sell me on the idea! "you know - I would go down there to work out, and just so you'd know that's where I really am, I'd call you from there while I was there." As if I need to be sold on this idea. Still, I was cool about it. Okay, well, whatever. Just let me know what you decide. Then it occured to me to put a little instant gratification into the mix: 'Cause, you know, if you want a phone I'll need time to investigate plans and find the best one for you...but if you want a gym membership instead, well, we could probably do that right away.

hah. I've learned a thing or do from Dr. Baboo.

So, not long after we were in landing in New Mexico after coming back from Alabama, and the captain told everyone they could turn on their cell phones, and I said, just OH, so casually - like I didn't really care about the answer - So, hey, speaking of cell phones, did you ever decide on what you wanted to do about getting a cell phone or gym?

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I want to join the gym."

He's paid up through March. SCORE!!!

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