The $1 lesson

"Can I borrow your flip-flops?", asked my niece. I reluctantly gave her my new/ never used/ never planning to use/ but back up flip-flops  I was scared that she might end up bare foot wearing those. But, I suppressed my fears and let her wear them. she waved good bye and started walking to a different country. Yeah, you heard me right. She wore my flip-flops and walked to Canada from USA!

Who imagined that those yellow flip-flops that I bought from a dollar store will travel to a different country. Yeah, dollar store. Now don't be judgmental. I know where to shop and what to shop. You see, we don't have to spend $$$ on something that we can get just for $1. That is the beauty of America. You will get everything for every price. You just need to know where to buy and what to buy.

While the summer is on, I imagined myself in shorts and flip-flops like most of the americans. So, while I was in a dollar store, I came across these beautiful yellow flip-flops. They were bright and shiny and were screaming to grab them. I did. I was more than happy to purchase them for $1 and not spend $10 like other stores.

But hey wait, I never wore them. I feared their quality. I was too scared to end up bare foot in the middle of nowhere. So, I never wore them and they were lying in my closet for 2 months. While we were in Niagara with my nieces, after playing in the water and soaking ourselves, we realised all our clothes and shoes were wet. But my nieces had plans to go to Canada.

Well, when you are in Niagara on US side, if you have a valid visa (or if you are an american citizen), you can go to Canada on foot. Yeah! As simple as that. One can literally walk over the bridge and go to a different country. Well, in my case, I am an immigrant. For me, crossing borders is out of question. Since my nieces are US citizens, they wanted to visit Canada. And one of them wore my flip-flops and in fact visited a different country. After she came back in few hours, she returned my flip flops and said, they were comfortable but stained her feet with yellow.

I took my flip-flops back, put them in the car and started thinking. Well, who imagined that something thats worth $1 will actually visit 2 different countries! I started realising how I underestimated my dollar flip-flops. May be this is how we underestimate most of the people and many situations. Just like my dollar store flip-flops, we never know who is worth what! A lesson learnt at the cost of $1. Now, I am not going to wear those flip-flops at all. They remain iconic in my life!