This evening after getting home from work and having dinner with the family, I surprised my son with a special treat that he could bring with him to Boy Scout camp next week — venison jerkey. However, it was not made yet. So I pulled out a couple of cuts from the freezer and began the preparation process. Unfortunately, after I had sliced all the meat up nice and thin, I discovered that I did not have any of the ingredients for my super secret marinade that he loves so much. So it was off to the store in town we went. And because we have become accustomed to combining trips, I also grabbed the mower gas cans to fill up (at $3.16 no less — woohoo!) as well as an item I needed to return to Lowes.
So my son and I proceeded on our rounds: bank ATM, grocery aisle, automotive aisle, Lowes return desk, plumbing aisle, and pool supplies aisle. Now D was starting to run low on patience after the return at Lowes so my plumbing and pool supplies aisle received the response of a deep sigh and “Do we have to?” from him even though items from those aisles were on my list. So when we walked out of Lowes and I stated that we still needed to get mower gas, his response was one of exhaustion (which I thought was kind of funny).
After we filled up the gas cans and my wife’s truck I thought I’d pull one over on him and push my luck. I am known by my kids to surprise them or tell them we are going some place lame and then end up at ice cream or something. So this time, as we exited the gas station I started back across the parking lot. He immediately questioned why we weren’t going out the exit. I responded that I needed to drive by Autozone to price compare the oil we just purchased. You would have thought that I asked him to eat a field of brussell sprouts. He went into whine mode while deep inside I had to control my smile. You see, between Autozone and the gas station is a Wendy’s and I was treating to chocolate Frostys (yes, I know that plural form of Frosty is misspelled, but Frosty is a brand name so deal with it).
Even though I was going through the Wendy’s parking lot he continued whining and didn’t realize what was going on until we were in front of the drive thru speaker. He immediately saw his childly whining as completely inappropriate and broke into a sheepish, guilty grin knowing that his whining was lame and grateful that he was getting a treat. I proceeded to laugh and bask in the lesson that taught itself.
We proceeded home and stopped to take in the sunrise at my son’s request. Below is a photo I snapped. It was truly relaxing and beautiful and I am so glad I could share it with my son. It was a great way to end the day.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
