Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Gift of Time


One of the greatest gifts that we can give to those we love is that of ourselves. The gift of our time. I was reminded of that this weekend.

I planned a mini-date with Caleb this weekend. We would run a couple of errands in town and while we were out we were going to have an ice cream together. But not just any old ice cream. Cold Stone Creamery, baby. Oh. yeah.

I had a coupon for buy one get one free and thought it would be a nice time to enjoy a treat and just talk with him. We had fun and I'll treasure the memory of just being with my biggest boy. Just me and him. Something that needs to happen a lot more often.

As we were spending our afternoon and ice cream together, I realized that I'm not really engaging with him in the things that he really likes. Legos and Star Wars just really don't do anything for me. BUT, that's where my son is at. So, it's where I need to meet him. Light saber and all.

I sat down and played Lego Star Wars the video game with him last night and I hope I never ever forget this night. I wish I had a video tape of it. He was thrilled that his mom was playing with him. He loved showing me how to do everything and we had a lot of good laughs. The game was not my source of entertainment, the pure delight that my son got from having me play that game with him was. He was so appreciative.

And this morning, when he got up, he kissed me and thanked me again for playing. In making that decision to give my time to be with him and doing what he wanted, something changed in our relationship. He knows that I chose him over all the other things that I could have been doing. He knows that he is important to me.

And I know that another session of Lego Star Wars is in my near future.

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5 comments:

Karen said...

good for you...lego star wars. for me its been baseball cards and, now, guitar song down loads...just being interested in what they do...really hard, at times, but it builds those bridges so that, hopefully, when the serious stuff comes up, they will share that too....thanks for the reminder...

Anonymous said...

I vote this is your best post. What a great reminder! I'm sort of tired of little people... but so what! My son isn't :)
I'm so glad you got that special time with him.
I love you!

Anonymous said...

Wait... I meant Fisher Price Little People. I just reread my comment and thought that it might sound like I was saying I was tired of my kids... haha, I am so not tired of them. Just Fisher Price toys.

Jo Ann said...

Ha, ha, Jess! I knew what you meant! Give your real little people a kiss from me. :)

Crystal said...

Jessica's comment is hilarious. :)

Jo Ann, this was beautiful and very timely for me. Thank you for the reminder.