Last Saturday evening the 16yo and I ventured downtown for dinner. Cubby's was our destination, their succulent burgers and sweet potato fries were beckoning. I love going out to eat with the younger son. I no longer allow him to bring along his GameBoy DS for entertainment, he is forced into captive conversation with Mom. What horror of horrors is this? Talk to his mother? For an hour, maybe even more! Plus travel time! This is no problem for my boy. Unlike many other mothers (dads, too) who lament that all they can pry from their teenagers are monosyballic retorts, I sometimes have to ask my sons to hush! too much information! you're speaking too quickly for the language speed my ears are equipped to process! They wish to overwhelm my brain with more information about school, friends, the last thing they ate, video game music, video game trivia, the video game characters they currently have in various stages of development, the gross unidentifiable thing that one of the cats has coughed up (with any luck, on a hard, wipeable surface rather than an upholstered or carpeted one), some other programming thing they are working on, ad infinitum than I can possibly take in. But I digress. When our cheerful waitress brought the basket of boneless buffalo wings, she brought cutlery wrapped in napkins and plates. Three plates for just us two. Which made me think. About who might be there with us in spirit but not physically. I set the extra plate at the end of the table. For some reason I liked how it looked there, an unspoken, open invitation, ready to be claimed and filled. I thought about the Jewish holiday, I can't remember the specific one, where an extra place is set at the table just in case someone should appear at the door and be wanting. A reminder that in the midst of plenty, there is often a less fortunate soul nearby who doesn't have what they need. Eventually our waitress whisked away the extra plate along with the ones that we had used. But I liked the idea of the possibility of an unexpected guest joining us.
5 comments:
Just imagine, Darth Cheney might have showed up. Wouldn't that have been entertaining.
I think Elijah is the potential guest, but am too lazy to look it up! I like the idea, too. So hopeful. Maybe you can manifest Mr. NPBPFM that way!
Gotta be careful with that manifestation stuff. Could turn into infestation. Not saying don't do just be cautious.
It's not a GameBoy! The proper title of the handheld is "Nintendo DS"!
That is my goofy elder son who is a nitpicky literalist. I adore him despite this personality flaw. Okay. Fine! It's a Nintendo DS!
Post a Comment