multi-hyphenated-me

“Kids say the darndest things” ~ Art Linkletter

At our dinner table, we give thanks before our meals. We don’t recite a prayer or say grace, we go around the table and each person says “I am thankful for ___________.”

Earlier today while we were driving around town, I mentioned that my Facebook friends are playing “30 Days of Gratitude” and posting every day what they’re grateful for in their lives.  We decided tonight at dinner that we would list three things we are thankful for to catch up for November 1, 2 and 3.

We were out driving around because I told the boys in October we would have Gnocchi with Bolognese Ragu as soon as it snowed.  Sure enough, we woke to snow falling from the sky, the yard had a good dusting.  The boys’ first reaction was “WHOOP! It’s snowing.” Before breakfast was over, they remembered that with snow comes gnocchi.  We were picking up the ingredients.

Please remember that my husband and I are on a detox diet.  Today I’ve eaten, cherries, apples, raisins, arugula, jicama, tomatoes, avocado, spinach, snow peas, broccoli and green beans.  I’ve washed this down with a juice combination of kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, apple and ginger; herbal teas and water.  I feel great and I’m not hungry.  Cooking for the boys is a challenge.  Making gnocchi with Bolognese (a delicious family favorite) was tough.  I managed just fine, without issue. My husband couldn’t resist and had a scoop.

We sat around the dinner table and we started giving thanks.  I’m not going to say who said what but the list of three things they were grateful for are awesome:

List A:  1. Life, 2. God, 3. Love

List B:  1. Wildlife, 2. Life, 3.  Friends

List C:  1. Life, 2. Food, 3. First Snow

I didn’t respond to their lists, nor did I say that I was thankful their responses didn’t include video games.  The gnocchi and sauce that took over two hours to make didn’t make the top three list either.  I like that they all copied one response from the first, that they are thankful for life.  I love that they think in general terms, not one animal specific, just wildlife in its entirety.

The boys said later at dinner that they hoped it would snow tomorrow so they could have a snow day. Poor Southern California kids thought “Snow Day” meant that they don’t have to go to school if it was snowing. Once I stopped laughing, I explained “Snow Days” were called if the roads were unsafe and the buses can’t make it to school. Their eyes grew wide thinking about the amount of snow that would have to fall in order to cancel school. They were disappointed at the difference, hoping their wild dreams of missing school for most of winter would come true.

Until our first snow day, we’ll just give thanks.