To start today’s story, it’s important to know that The Guy and I have his little girl for the summer. She’s 8 years old, and is a blast to have around. When she isnt spending the summer and holidays with us, she’s 3,000 miles away with her mother so it’s been fun figuring out how to answer all the many questions that little inquiring minds come up with, as these dont typically come up in phone calls like they do in car trips around town, reading the newspaper, around the dinner table, etc, etc.
Well today, we were doing some final back-to-school shopping (taking advantage of tax-free weekend) and the stores were PACKED and parking was a serious issue. In one particular shopping center on our destination list today was an abandoned grocery store of a local chain that recently declared bankruptcy and closed nearly all locations, selling one or two that remain open. Kiddo said “that store has TONS of empty parking spots! How come?” So I informed her that that store was no longer open. She, naturally, returned with “Why are they closed?”
Normally, I would try to broaden her vocabulary and teach her something in the process. However, I was not sure that Kiddo is familiar with the term Bankruptcy and it was far too early in the morning to try and explain it all unless she asked, so I simplified things with “The company ran out of money.” She thought this over for a second and said “Oh, so they couldnt give people change anymore?”
Well, not exactly. 
But it made my day.
