You can find a use for everything, if you just keep it long enough.

Almost three years ago, Askew Taylor was the first Raleigh institution that we visited on our very first day in our new town.  We were hot, still unsure of the decision that we had made, tired from 11 days on the road and had a list of obscure school supplies for Jacob that was over a page long.  We walked in and the unsettling feeling of panic began to close in.  "How are we going to find anything?  We're going to be here forever!"  I said, scanning the store.  And then a man came out from the corner office and asked kindly and gently if he could help us.  For the next couple of hours he walked us through his maze of a store and educated Jacob on the finer points of modeling glues and lead pointers and the best and sometimes impossibly hard to find compasses and t-squares.  It was also that day that Jacob met his first class mate and now good friend in one of the cramped aisles as they were both sifting through their extensive supplies list.

How time has passed so quickly I'll never know, but today we visited Askew for the millionth time and that same man came out from his office, nodded at us and said, "Y'all know where to find what you need."  We smiled and agreed.  Our entire trip took less than 5 minutes.  As we were leaving Jacob said he spied a freshman scanning his supplies list and weeping a little in one of the aisles.  Poor kid, he'll find his place eventually.