I’m not in the habit of meeting men for lunch who are not my husband.
Especially a table full of them. Mercy.
But I knew opportunities like this didn’t come along every day.
Plus, they were really cute.
Let me explain.
My son Micah had forgotten his lunch. Knee-deep in laundry, deadlines and other deadly serious tasks, I intended to put it in his hot little hands and hot foot it out the door.
And I almost made it.
Just as I was walking away, Micah shouted: “Mom, wait!”
“They want to know if you’ll eat lunch with us,” he said giggling, pointing to a group of boys wearing goofy grins.
My mind called up my lengthy undone to-do list.
I quickly added “Eat Lunch with Adorable Nine-Year-Old Boys” to the top of it.
One of the boys ran and brought me a chair and I was soon caught up talking baseball, Halloween costumes and favorite lunch items. (The winner? Wacky Fortunes Rollups, hands down.)
It was the best 30 minutes of that entire week.
I’ve found that some of my sweetest, most memorable parenting moments are the ones I haven’t planned – the detours I’ve been wise enough to take in the midst of life’s busyness.
A friend of mine calls it “being interruptible.” Task-oriented, recovering perfectionist types like me loathe interruptions. Checking off the items on my to-do list is a sacred ritual that makes me downright giddy.
But what if the most important thing “to do” is not on my agenda?
Sometimes you have to just stop and smell the rollups.
8 Comments
I’m with the other commenter who couldn’t believe they asked!! I hope as long as my kids ask, I know one day they’ll think we’re uncool and won’t want us cramping their style… we’ve got to capitalize on the invitations for as long as we can!
{Melinda} Yes, so true, Robin! This happened a couple of years ago. He is almost 13 now and he and his friends would probably not ask today. Which makes me so glad that I have tried to take advantage of those opportunities when they were there. I know I missed ones when they were younger — before I realized how quickly time would pass!
Love this. I love the idea of having enough margin in my schedule to always have room for a lunch date with my boys.
{Melinda} My kids are getting older and growing out of a lot of the “rituals” we did when they were younger. It’s the natural progression of things, but it does make me glad I engaged them as much as possible when they were so much wanting to be with me. 🙂
Precious! Love the picture too. What a great moment for you.
{Melinda} Thanks, Erin. Love those moments. And we can just never predict when they’ll happen. 🙂
this brought back a lot of sweet memories, thanks!
{Melinda} Awww… you’re welcome, Sandy. 🙂 We’ll never regret those “stops” we’ve made along the way, will we?