It’s not often that I get to spend some one-on-one time with both of my children in one twenty-four hour period, but yesterday the stars aligned and I hit the jackpot. The first half of the daily double started with a mid-afternoon phone call from my daughter. “Hey, Mom,” she said. “We haven’t seen much of each other lately. I have to run a few errands after work and I wondered if you wanna meet me at Target around 6?” Now, I had no desire to go shopping after work. I had no interest in wandering around a store filled with stuff I didn’t need, especially when I was set to return to work at 7:30 to help with a last-minute mailing project. All I wanted to do was go home, find a comfy chair and flip through my DVR’d U.S. Open matches. But that would have to wait. I had a chance to spend a little time with my girl.
Turns out, “little time” was an accurate description. By the time she was able to break away from work, it was 6:30. We tried on a few things at Marshall’s before heading to Panera for a quick bite to eat. After carting our salads outside to enjoy the last hours of sunshine, we shared stories of our day and she even asked for a little advice. We never did make it to Target.
I got to spend a little more time with my son. Working at the same place has its benefits. As we stamped, stickered and stuffed hundreds of envelopes, I snuck in a few questions about his life and he actually answered. He even threw in an unexpected (and greatly appreciated) compliment about my appearance. Although I knew he didn’t want to, he stayed with me until the project was finished. I even got a few extra minutes of conversation when I drove him home.
When our kids are little, we spend thousands and thousands of hours with them. Last night, I was grateful for just a few more.
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