You know how down through history some people have gotten some pretty rotten words and iamges associated with their names, like Vlad the Impaler and Attila the Hun? Well, I’m hoping the words and images asscoiated with Lucas’ name stick. He is the middle child so he already has the “peacemaker” title attached to his name. He is the one who will give up his choice of seat in the car to maintain peace. He is the one who will sacrifice a little to ensure there is not World War III in our house. Now, he earned a new title. Lucas has pulled two of the most generous acts out of his hat in the past week and I bursting with happiness.

Zach has been trying to raise money for his school marathon dance this upcoming weekend. The kids who are participating in the dance are each supposed to raise at least $100 to help fund various charities in our area. Zach is rather shy when it comes to soliciting people for money or goods so he sat on this task until it was time to put up or bow out of the dance ~ Lucas to the rescue. Lucas is not shy in almost any capacity so he went with him door to door in our neighborhood to help him feel a little more at ease and it worked because Zach came back feeling pretty good. After they got home, Lucas pulls out his last $6 and hands it to Zach. Lucas wanted to contribute money to Zach’s efforts to raise money for the dance. I don’t know why Lucas’ actions affected me like it did, it was only $6, but I was blown away by his very simple act of generousity.

In the last couple of days Jan has been DYING to get his hands on the iPad 2 and has been stalking the Apple Store to find out when the next shipment will be in. He persistence paid off and he was finally successful in his quest. The kids didn’t have school on Wednesday so the plan was to drop Jan off at the mall early to make sure he got a good spot in line. Lucas decided he wanted to go with Jan. I dropped both boys off. While they were standing in line they were approached by man who wanted to buy three iPads (the limit was two per person). He offered to pay Lucas $50 to “buy” the third iPad for him. To Lucas the offer was something out of a dream and he was beyond excited. He agreed to help this man out and pocketed $60 (the man didn’t have any change so he gave Lucas three $20’s). Lucas and Jan walked around the mall, with the money burning a hole in Lucas’ pocket. They went to Game Stop and spent $3 on a game and then they went to the tea store, Teavana. Lucas knows how much I love tea so he parted with some of his winnings to buy me some of the world’s most expensive tea. I almost keeled over when I found out how much he spent on tea for me but that is beside the point ~ he was a complete sweetheart! He made out like a bandit at the Apple Store, to be sure, but to think of me and my love of tea makes him a pretty cool kid in my book!

I will have to teach to Lucas to be careful of those who want to take advantage of his generosity but I will have to tread lightly. I don’t want to crush his generous spirit. I want to make him aware ~ a little. I hope he keeps this title attached to his name. He deserves it. I hope I can teach him well. I HAVE to teach him well because of my love for Lucas the Generous…