Never Leave Your Lunch At The Bus Stop Unattended

On Friday I brought my Mommy A-game. Calvin left his show and tell thing at home, and when he burst into tears on the way there, I knew I had to bring it to him. I dashed home to get it and sailed in just in time to give it to him.

Phew! Crisis averted.

I was so glad to do it, especially when he gave me such a sweet smile and 'I love you' eyes. In the pic you'll see Calvin in the car after preschool holding his goods. He needed his Lightening McQueen lunchbox full to the brim with pennies, nickels, and dimes for show and tell. Too cute.

Rescuing Calvin reminded me of a time that my Dad rescued me.

While Rachel and Austin and I were waiting for our elementary school bus, we were too busy playing to notice anything else. Then the bus came, and we picked up our lunches and hopped on. Very quickly I noticed that my brown bag lunch was wet.

Immediately I knew the problem. The rogue dog wandering around the bus stop PEED ON MY LUNCH!!!!

What the? What had I done to that dog? I wept sincere tears. I wept for my appetite, which was gone. I went for the brown bag that was now soggy. I wept for my future 30 minute lunch, which I was sure was going to be miserable as I would be hungry. I wept for the loss of my youth. I had to grow up prematurely. I had to accept that into everybody's life a little rain (or pee) must fall.

At school, I had a brief visit with my teacher, who tried to convince me to just eat the lunch as the items in the plastic baggies were dry.

Ew. Come on. Yuck. I'm still grossin' over that one.

Luckily, the tears were working for me because she sent me down to the office to call my Mom. There was more weeping, a little wailing, and probably some gnashing of teeth. My Mom gave me such sincere comfort. She understood that I was hurting. Really suffering. And she promised to bring me a new, non-peed-on, fresh, lunch.

This consoled me, and I was able to complete my multiplication tables without another tear.

You can imagine the happiness I felt when the secretary paged me to the office. I knew that I would find my Mom down there with my new and improved lunch. But as I rounded the corner, I didn't see my Mom. Instead I saw my Dad.

And he had that smile on his face. If you are a parent, I think that you might know "that smile." It was the kind of smile that says, "I'm trying not to laugh at my child." Or in his case, "I'm trying hard not to laugh because a dog peeing on your lunch is so funny, but I love you so I'm going to just send you a big smile and dancing eyes."

I loved the smile. The new lunch was pretty awesome, too. He had stopped at the gas station on the way to the school and bought me a King Size Baby Ruth candy bar. That is a man that knows his daughter. There has never an emotional issue so big that a King Size candy bar couldn't cure it.

Now I have two smiles that I love to remember. I loved seeing my Dad's smile when he brought me the lunch, and I loved being Calvin's Mom and seeing his smile when I brought him the lunchbox. Ahhhh, the little stuff. It's the good stuff.

***** Side Note *******And seriously, if you see a dog circling the bus stop, watch him closely. You do not want a peed on lunch. It's gross. Bad gross.