Tonight, I had everything prepped for Hummus-Crusted Chicken, went into the fridge to get the hummus, and… no hummus. How can you salvage that recipe? Um, you can’t. I know I bought some on the previous grocery trip, but somewhere along the line, the hummus jumped ship. So what to do? I needed to run to the store.
I offered to The Boy the option of staying home, as I have a few times before. He has always said no, a little afraid of the responsibility, and convinced he isn’t old enough. But tonight, he was contentedly watching Spongebob videos, and responded that, yes, he would like to stay home, while I took five minutes to run to the store and back. I reminded him that he could face-time me from his iPad if he needed anything, and I took off.
The whole time, I felt like I had a weight on my chest, but I drove carefully, moved quickly and efficiently into and out of the store, and face-timed him on the way home. “How ya doin’?”
“Fine.”
“What’re ya doin’?”
“Watching Spongebob.”
“I’m on my way home.”
“OK, Mom.”
“See you in a minute!”
“OK, see you in a minute.”
“Bye!”
“Bye, Mom.”
And a minute later I was home. “Are you home?” he said when he heard me come in the door. I responded in the affirmative, told him how proud I was of him for being so mature and responsible, and he was visibly excited and proud of himself.
Will I be taking off by myself to the movies anytime soon? Hell no.
But this is a proud mama moment for me. This is a baby step toward adulthood for my little man.
Simple. I Just Do. 