Barbie: Fifteen dollars. Doll house: forty-seven dollars. A little girl’s love priceless. I believe that true love can’t be bought with money.
When I was three years old my parents divorced leaving me in a world where my love was trying to be bought by my parents. They would buy me whatever I wanted: dolls, candy, stuffed animals, etc. While I was growing up I became accustomed to my parents showing their love for me, by buying material objects for me.
Then my little world crashed one day. My dad picked me up from the airport but he didn’t greet me with a surprise that can be bought from the store. Instead, as we where driving home, he explained to me, how he had met this nice lady, he wanted me to meet. Well, the lady my dad wanted me to meet shortly after became my step-mom. Before I knew it my parents where remarried, and starting families of their own; I was no longer the only child.
I slowly started to realize this. I just stopped getting things I wanted; instead I had to clean to earn money to be able to buy what I wanted for myself. I’d cried and threw fits when I didn’t get the things I wanted. Most people thought I was a selfish, bratty girl, but in my eyes I was doing this because it was an outcry for love. See, I was brought up, knowing that my parents love was shown by what they bought me. Now that they were not buying me things, I thought they did not love me. I spent many nights, and days crying over this. I started feeling like I was not apart of their new life and family. I felt like an outcast in my own house. I was no longer special in my eyes to my parents.
My parents didn’t know what to do at first. All they knew is that they didn’t have money to buy me things anymore. Searching and acting on every crazy idea they came across; such as decorating my room, cleaning my room, etc. You know little acts of service. They’d do anything to show they still loved me, without having to buy me things from the store.
Now as I’m older and I look back at things, I see that my parents have always loved me the same. They may not buy me things as much anymore but they show their love in different ways. More meaningful ways. They will take time out of their busy lives to spend time with me, like helping me with homework, taking me to a friend’s house or most important just talking to me. They will listen to me and give me advice on what to do with my every day problems that I face. In the end the love they show by teaching me is more valuable than anything that can be bought at a store.