Small Reminders

Mark at Skinny Dip Yogurt...one of summer's best pleasures.

There were several days this week that were back to back catapulting from activity to activity.  I am, at heart, a homebody, attached to routine and rejuvenated by solitude.

But then I had children and the children keep getting bigger and busier and need rides more places.

One day that had been particularly fraught with here, there and everywhere, I was driving Braeden and Mark home early from a youth boating/tubing activity.  Neither of them wanted to leave the lake and willingly shared their displeasure with me.  Both of them were very near starving to death (apparently).  We were rushing to get Braeden to the pool for his shift.  Mark wanted to tell a long story and Braeden told him he didn't want to listen. Mark said, "Well, I'll tell Mom."

So I listened.

Kind of.

It was all pretty typical.

We slid through a drive-thru so the boys didn't succumb to their starvation.  I remembered to ask for no pickles for Mark's cheeseburger.  I tapped the steering wheel impatiently at the traffic.  We got to the pool one minute late.  Braeden popped the rest of his burger in his mouth and mumbled a muffled good-bye and jogged across the parking lot.  I think I may have sighed deeply...from relief or tiredness or just because.

From the back seat Mark said, "Mom?"

My "What?" was likely impatient.

"This is what I would say to you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He said, "This song.  This is what I would say to you."

The song that was playing on the radio was that one by Bruno Mars, "You're Amazing Just the Way You Are."

How sweet is that?  All of the sudden, I felt like it was all worth it.  I felt like maybe in addition to providing (pickle free) cheeseburgers to hungry boys and getting them places (nearly) on time, I could leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Because in this world, there's a red head that thinks I'm amazing.  Just the way I am.