Spoons

There was a knock on my bedroom door. Everyone wants you to come down and play--said my oldest son. It was one of the best requests ever made to me. Come down and play. My son and some of his friends were playing games in the basement. And they wanted to know if I'd play Spoons with them. That was something I'd never ever turn down. I got up, got dressed, and headed for the basement. Spoons it is.  

When your children are teenagers or young adults, you never turn down a request to hang out. You are well aware of the shortage of time. It's ticking loudly in your ear. The clock of clocks, tick tock, tick tock. I lived in dread of the last alarm going off. I feared the day that there would no longer be anyone to ask me to--go down and play.

So, down I went. For a couple of hours, I played Spoons and laughed with a bunch of loud teenagers. I had the time of my life. They all called me mom, laughing so hard they snorted and made great, long-lasting memories--in my basement. 

For them, most likely, they've forgotten. Me? I'll always remember it. It was spending time with my children, who really were no longer children. It was that feeling of being wanted and of feeling included. I've always thought of myself as being close to my kids, and that was a time that made me feel a part of them. Of their friends, of their lives, and of their memories. All over a game of Spoons. 

I've often wondered-- what if I had been the type of parent who had said no--I'm sleeping or too busy watching TV. However, my husband assured me they would not have asked me in the first place. They knew the answer. They knew that they were important to me and that I loved spending time with them, and still do. Even now, as adults, when they call us and ask--hey, do you want to ...we say yes. Even when we don't. 

My prayer is that I've passed that on to my kids. I pray that they play Spoons with their kids and friends and make memories--silly ones, important ones, memories that will last them until the clock stops ticking. I pray that they learned from us the value of not just being parents but the value of building relationships. 

We will always say yes. We love spending time with them. So even when we're busy, even when we cancel plans already made, we try hard to always say yes. Because when your kids ask you to play Spoons, you do.