Upon our arrival at Niagara Falls we stopped at a visitor's centre to pick up a map of the attractions and as soon as we walked in the door Lilly spotted a fox stuffed animal and asked for it. I quickly told her she should wait because she might find something else on our trip that she liked better. I explained the whole weigh-your-options concept to her and she seemed to be okay with this. Rourk backed me up and I promised her we'd get her a souvenir before leaving Canada.
She wasn't annoying, but she didn't relent about the fox. She asked about it several times, several times a day that is, but Rourk and I agreed that we'd have many chances to get something in Toronto. Somehow that didn't happen and just our luck when our days became numbered we couldn't find a fox. I started kicking myself because we had driven by that vister's centre three or four times before we left Niagara Falls. It would have been so easy to run inside and purchase the fox, but I believed in our theory and stood firm. In desperation we hit every toy store in Stratford the night before leaving the country and I even tried to persuade her to get a beaver and at one point a skunk, but she wouldn't hear of it. Lilly wanted a fox. She wanted a fox so much that she marched up to an employee in one store and asked for a fox herself. You know, I have to respect a girl that knows what she wants in life.
We never found a fox.
And you know what happens whens you're me and you can't find a fox in Canada and you are getting closer and closer to the border and your daughter says, "You said we'd get a fox in Canada!" You kick yourself a little more about not stopping in Niagara Falls, and then you explain the internet to her and you change your promise. You promise that you'll order her one once you get home. She didn't let me forget this either. We weren't home an hour when she asked me about her fox and the internet. In her calm, mild-mannered way she demanded that I sit down and get her that fox. She sat me down at the computer, pulled a chair up next to me and carfully decided after looking at a dozen or so foxes that she wanted Roxy Red Fox.
I guess I could have used this moment to explain to Lilly that I did my best to find her a fox and that we don't always get what we want in life, but that just didn't seem right. It didn't seem right because my daughter was, well, humble in her desire to have a fox. We walked all over Niagara Falls, we went into the gift shop at the Butterfly Conservatory, the Toronto Zoo, the African Lion Safari, several shops near Marjorie and Barry's house and numerous, cool toy stores in Stratford and she didn't once ask for anything else. I guess it goes back to her being sure of herself and what she wanted and I am proud of her for that. So in a few days Roxy Red Fox will arrive it our house in an Amazon box and I think it's fitting that Amazon boxes always have that happy face on them because it will be a happy day in our house indeed.
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