My Date Needs a Booster Seat

Tonight I went on a date with Sawyer. That sounds so cheesy to even say it, as if you can date a five year old. I mean, he can’t even eat four whole chicken nuggets. He can’t go potty alone. He can’t carry on an intelligent conversation about the stock market. Okay, so neither can I, but you get the point. Dating a preschooler is basically babysitting in a public place.

But, dating a five year old who just also happens to be the cutest, sweetest, most fascinating, most special boy in the room feels very much like being in love. I was absolutely smitten with my boy tonight.

Our local Chick Fil-A provided this event, a Mother/Son night that has been greatly anticipated in the Edgington house for several weeks. There were knights, peasants, Lords, and Ladies. There was balloon sword-making and lots of picture snapping.

I asked him some of the questions that were on the menu:

Would you rather be a spider or an elephant? I asked. His eyes rolled to the ceiling as he gave it serious thought. What eats spiders? he asked.
Lots of things, I said.
What eats elephants?he wanted to know.
Umm, not much, I guessed.
Then I want to be an elephant.

That’s what I call solid reasoning.

And later when we took a ride in what I’m sure was a funeral home limo, we were packed in there with six other people, plus the driver, all total strangers to us. The mothers and sons rode in what was probably an exhaustion-induced silence. But, Sawyer talked excitedly all the way through the ride, touching on everything from numbers to animals to letters, and singing most of it. In a situation where I would normally be shushing him, I let Sawyer talk and sing to his heart’s content, as loudly as he wanted, because I was so enamored with his enthusiasm for living in that exact moment in time. He wasn’t worrying about what he was going to do when he got home. He wasn’t even thinking about what was going to happen in five minutes when the ride was over. All he was doing was completely enjoying himself. And, it made me so glad that I was talking and laughing with my sweet son, not even caring if we were annoying the other people in the car.

He was basically just a limo-load of fun.

Sure, he can’t cut his own food. But, he still has a lot to teach me about enjoying each moment as it comes.

It isn’t easy, though, is it? When the workload is never-ending. And the guilt is overwhelming. And the fear is crippling. And the sleep never comes. We get bogged down in the drudgery of day-to-day trials and tasks, but God wants us to have a more abundant life! I feel convinced that I saw abundant life tonight in a little bow-tied chatterbox. I want to follow his lead.