An Unexpected Day

There are times God grants us a day with little loved ones that is all together wonderful. My seven year old and I decided to complete a project together over the summer. Coming out of church one Sunday we decided that we would be the ones to plant the empty flowerbed, at the top of the stairs.

We set out for the local Lowe’s to purchase flowers. I got one of the flat-bed baskets and rolled it between the aisles of flowers. He would spy a color he liked and put three of them on the cart. Now and then I would point to some that I really liked and he would place three of them on the cart.  In this higgledy-piggledy manner, we filled the cart quickly and had many flowers to load.

When we opened the back of the Pathfinder, there were still the case of cokes that had not been unloaded. I told him to climb over and help me move them up towards the seats. He did and reminded me that we still needed to get the key.

We unloaded at the church and got right to work.

“Mom, how long is this going to take?”

“Oh, about an hour.”

“We are going to have fun, aren’t we mom?”

“Ummm… can you hand me that shovel?”

We worked for a bit and ran into some trouble. Lots of trouble really. Below the inch of smooth mulch lurked a layer of heavy, duty, rip-stop plastic. Luckily we had a knife and scissors. We scraped and cut and sawed our little knife back and forth. I probably said some things I shouldn’t have. We got through the plastic to find rocks, dense clay, and more rocks. The harder we worked, the more irritated I got. Just who, in their right mind fills a flowerbed with clay, rock and plastic?

We were on our second hour when he said, “Mom, I found a HUGE rock. It looks like a step.”

I went over. It was an old step. I told him that we needed reinforcement, so we gave everything a quick drink, packed up the Pathfinder, and locked the church.

“That was fun wasn’t it mom? Even with the rocks?”

“Yes, it was fun,” I assured him.

I called my friend John and arranged to meet him that evening when it got cooler. When we arrive back at the church, my little helper hops out and bounds up the steps. I get out more slowly and open the back. I move everything up the steps and return for the shovel. I am a little tired, so I yank the shovel handle and pull it back towards the opening.

“Sssssppppppp…popppppp…ssssppppppp” I look into the back of the pathfinder to find Diet Coke spewing all over the back of the car. I give the shovel a final yank and slam the door. Surely it will stop in a few minutes.

We work until dark and head home.

As I limp towards the house, I feel a little hand slip into mine.

I am thinking about sticky diet coke, but I say, “I enjoyed our day together.”

He said, “It was more than expected wasn’t it mom?”

I kissed him and smiled.

“Expected? When did you get so big?”

I heard him giggle as he said, “Also, I can’t wait to tell dad that the truck honked his horn when you bent over.”

I swatted at his rear end as he ran past me. The giggle was perfection.

Thank you Lord, for unexpected days with little boys!