March 9th, 2017 → 5:35 am @ Lea // No Comments

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” – Hamlet

My six year old son loves it when I take an afternoon off to join him for lunch at school.  I generally bring Jimmy John’s sandwiches, blue Gatorade, and Kit Kat candy bars for dessert, and every time I go I get the biggest hug from him afterwards.  Usually he asks me that very night when I can come again.  Recently, because of an injury, I hadn’t joined him at the school for nearly four months.  So I asked him last week, would you like me to visit you at school for lunch soon?  His immediate response:  “Will you bring the crutches too?”

The disabled person in me was crushed.  The mother in me understood.  The human rights activist in me wanted to protest and explain.  I paused for a minute before simply asking my son if he didn’t want me to go.  “No,” he said, “I want you to come.”

So, I did.  I hobbled into his school, carrying our contraband take-out lunch in a napkin-lined backpack, and acted like nothing was amiss.  In the end, my son did too.  I even got my enormous hug after we ate and before he ran outside for recess.  I don’t know if my son was embarrassed by me, but I’m pretty sure he has the strength of character not to care too much.  What I know for certain: he loves me, and I love him more than he will ever know.