Still Hangs with Mom

What's better than a "Mom & Noah Day?"  An unexpected and unplanned one!

For the past few years, Noah has gone with me to an annual Indian breakfast.   A local oncologist opens his home each spring as a benefit to the American Cancer Society.  Noah, being just as adventurous of an eater as I am, it's something we've come to look forward to each year.  Hard to believe though that the little kid I first brought along is now taller than me!  This year, though we were scurrying out the door, I managed to think and pause long enough for a photo.


We were somewhat rushed Saturday morning because we had a certain time to be back in town.  Living nearly an hour from the breakfast, it also meant we had a specific time we needed to leave.  Though we made it to the breakfast on time, we didn't have the luxury to leisurely eat and go out back for a stroll through their picturesque backyard.  However, in the short time we were there, we made the most of it.

Noah tried everything but tossed me several items, one toothy bite missing from each.  As he lapped up the syrup and melted cream from his waffle, I caught him eyeing mine.  Actually, he was at first glancing at the buffet.  My "Mom look" let him know without words it wouldn't be appropriate to go back for seconds, but I softened that news by sliding my waffle over to him.  He gladly accepted.

As we left with our bellies content, he softly grabbed my arm, a silent thank you and secret hug.  If that's all the one on one time we'd had yesterday, I would've been happy from that single moment.

Heading to my office, the closest place to change for our next stop, I noticed Noah's shoes.  Although we were on a tight time limit, needing to get home for a ballgame, I realized a shoe shopping trip was in order.  Though we'd just bought the current pair less than three months ago, his poor sock covered toes were hanging out the sides!  When I asked why in the world he didn't tell me (smacking myself internally for not noticing already), Noah responded with a shrug.

Boys.

And though he'll only need those spiffy size twelves for a total of 13 days, as school is nearly out, they were worth every penny seeing him strut his stuff.  I might add, it was the quickest shoe shopping trip in my personal history,  helped in part because I totally avoided the women's section!  At any rate, we made it to the ball field on time, or if I'm being honest five minutes late, which considering all we packed into less than three hours, I'd say that's pretty impressive.



He trotted off to be with his team.  I figured this was the end of our day, though it was still technically morning.

Noah was dressed in his uniform but wasn't on the field to play.  The high school team called all the teams from the county to be recognized, one team at a time.  I chuckled a bit when Noah took the field, stopping at the dugout to shake the hands of the "big boys," especially since he was bigger than some.  And he's only 12.

We settled in to watch the game when an announcement came through that changed our plans.  A time delay found Tim an open fishing opportunity.  (He'd been itching to take out his boat for weeks)  And it found me and Noah with a free afternoon.  We opted to wait the game out out, grabbing a burger and keeping our shade tree spot.  A chunk of the day faded into early evening, cheering on our boys.

I thanked him for spending the day with me, knowing he could've just as easily hung out with his friends and other teammates who were littered around the stadium.  He smiled agreeing he'd enjoyed the day too.  Again I assumed that concluded our day and was one happy mom.

Once home, we had time apart during the evening busyness of preparing dinner and for church the next day.  But bedtime found him crawling up with me to watch tv, taking advantage that his dad was thoroughly enjoying his fishing time and wouldn't arrive home until midnight.  Tim prodded him off to his own bed in the wee hours of this morning.  I drifted back off to sleep, blissfully thankful for a complete morning to night quality time with my growing boy.