getting down to earth.

Just picked up Dboy from the other side of the earth from his hockey camp on this 90+ degree day. He climbs in the van with a sweaty head and a fresh pack of skittles in hand. Those darn vending machines! He obviously picks up on my subtle-but-oh-so-dark-and-shameful-glare: “What else could I have gotten that would of been better?” he asks.

Taking that as an open ended question, I kick into talking (with a note of lecturing) about the varying aspects of what we put into our bodies. We wind our way into talking about berries fresh from the actual earth versus the skittles’ version of a factory made berry. How when we look at our food we can wonder, “is this God-made or Bob-made?” Something amazing is happening here because this is turning into a two way engaging conversation.

He says, admittedly, he would rather have a real berry. (ding ding!)

And I admit that I could really have some on hand, thus he would have that as an option. (oh, there is that part of it!)

Getting home I get a phone call with a pleasant surprise. It’s papa. “Look out by your grill in the back – I brought over some vegetables I got from a friend’s garden over the weekend.”

Wow. Just like that we are looking down at fresh earthly garden goods right there in our own backyard. And still bearing the dirt they came from! Oddly, it seems like neither of us were totally expecting the dirt. Scary, isn’t it? Dboy picks out a carrot, rinses and chomps away.

He acts as if this is the most amazing thing he has ever eaten. Biting in myself, I taste an anise flavor, sharp and colorful. Nummy.

I notice the skittles package is left ignored on the counter, yet 1/2 full. At least for now anyways, and I’ll take it. A satisfied mommy-moment grin covers my face.