The Perfect Football

Asa loves all things football. (I may have mentioned this before.) The other day he came out with his Spaulding PeeWee Football that he and his little friends (he hates it when I call them that) play football with every day. It's blue and gray and he's had it for a while. He said, "You know, Mama, this football is just right for me. It's my perfect football."

Not the real dog or football
involved in this story.
Otherwise, pretty much the scene.

  Yesterday the dog bit 

the perfect football 

and flattened it.

Oh oh.

Asa was filled with darkness. You know that gray cloud from the comics? The one that hovers over angry people's heads? Well it was like that except Asa and the cloud were real!!

He yelled at the dog which We. Do. Not. Do. (Dogs are just trying to do the best they can. Besides, it was obvious that the dog had no idea why he was being yelled at for chewing a ball. A ball... that had been thrown. In the yard. Like all the other balls that are thrown, in the yard, for him to bite.)

Asa was otherwise pretty calm about it. He's never been one to pitch a fit. His face still dark, he went in the house for a while to hate the dog.

I felt very sorry for him. (It kept echoing in my head: my perfect football; my perfect football...) So right then and there I took Asa to Sports Authority in the mall and got him a new football. It was around $30. Then I took him to the Team Spirit Store and got him a NY Giants clock, with quart movement. It was another $30. He was definitely perking up. By the time we finished our pretzels and drinks at Pretzel Palace, $9, Asa was full of cheer.

Kids are easy. If you throw enough 
money at them, they'll come around eventually.