Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Food For Thought - and other purposes

Even if I haven't mentioned it lately, surely you have already assumed I have children of my own - three sons, as a matter of fact.  Over three decades ago, they were born in rather quick succession:  Colin, then Corey 50 weeks later, and then Court two and a half years after that.  Looking back at my first 5 or 6 years of motherhood, I see some specific image snapshots in my head punctuated by long periods of blur.  I'm sure those unfocused images were my head snapping around like Linda Blair in a vain attempt to corral my precious little boys blue.  Perhaps the best part of being a Granma is that even without my requisite glasses, the blur is gone.  I just get to enjoy every minute when I am with the grandboys and then hand them back to their parents.  But I digress.

I remember doling out cookies to anxious angelic faces and filling their cups and bottles with milk.  There was a second refrigerator in the garage that held extra gallons (plural) of milk in an attempt to avoid the grocery store more than once a week.  Some of those afore mentioned non-blur moments were running out of milk and having to take three sets of chubby reaching hands to the grocery store to restock.  Be assured, when the milk that was spilled in our house was the only milk in the house, there was every reason for tears - my tears.  Groceries with three pre-schoolers was worse than herding cats - herding octopi, maybe.

Whenever possible, I would tuck three little boys into their beds, kiss their father goodbye and head to the grocery store BY MYSELF.  To this day, the fruit aisle is my happy place; I automatically slow down and breathe deeply.  Even the canned music punctuated by advertisements and announcements is relaxing while walking down the those hallowed halls without continually counting (and wiping) noses.

So last month when Christine asked me to watch three little boys while she went grocery shopping, I jumped at the opportunity - not just to spend time with three sets of grandboy arms perfect for hugging, but also to give my daughter-in-law the opportunity to slow down and smell the oranges.  The day, however, developed into a longer trip than expected.  In order to keep the blog space to a minimum, let's just say that the shopping trip that started at 1 pm didn't conclude until almost 5:30.  Sometimes, though on fault of your own, life calls for a clean up in aisle 12 at unexpected times.

I only tell you this story because it was probably my all time favorite grocery trip - EVER!  Not only did I get extended playtime with three loves of my life, but I got to read the entire My First Hard Book Of series. I am now well versed in colors, shapes, numbers, the alphabet, words around the house and vehicles.  We also built with Duplos, sang the ABCs and played hide and go seek.  OK, some of the smells were not as "fresh" as the fruit aisle, but that was to be expected.

And in the end, I was presented with these (see picture):

Christine, you didn't have to, but thank you!  It was my absolute pleasure!

2 comments:

  1. I love the image of herding octopi! And the reminder to savor the moments.

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  2. Thanks, Steph! And as I just re-read the blog, I found another typo. Sigh. Maybe my fingers work faster than my brain - or something like that.

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