A Nice Walk Home

Having three children has its perks: instant playmates and constant entertainment.
However, a drawback is that I don't feel like I get enough one-on-one time with any one child. Today I was fortunate enough to get some alone time with Brendan.

After I finished tearing down the garage sale today, I took Brendan to a birthday party at the local bowling alley. Chris and Evan wanted to test drive the new tag-a-long that we added to Chris' bike where Evan can sit as if it were a double bike. (I promise to send pictures this week.) So, Andrew, Chris, and Evan took off on a bike ride to the library, which is right next to the bowling alley. I decided to walk to the library so that I could walk home with Brendan when he was finished.

When I picked up Brendan, he was immediately bummed that only he and I could walk together, while everyone else got to ride bikes. I told him that it gave us some quality time together, and he was ok with that. From there our talk progressed to a variety of topics. We began by talking about the bowling party. I got to hear who we bowled with, what scores they got, what arcade games he played, how big the slices of pizza were, and exactly what the cake looked and tasted like. (It was a dinosaur cake with green and black frosting and a HUGE volcano!)

This conversation only took us about half of the near 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile walk home. We then progressed into a conversation about our upcoming vacation to South Dakota and Wyoming. This led to discussion about Mount Rushmore and the various presidents represented there. As another take-off, we then discussed President Lincoln and his contribution of abolishing slavery. This catapulted into a major discussion on the ethics of slavery, and how he is "sure glad Lincoln made that law!"

Continuing on presidents, we discussed the upcoming election and the two prime candidates. He thought that "Obama seems like he would be a good president." He wanted to hear what I knew of each of them, and we spent serious time discussing McCain's service in Vietnam. This led to a discussion about Iraq and people being the war.

About this time, home was in sight and we started planning our drinks of water as we approached home. It was with a little sadness that I entered the house and realized that the little bubble that surrounded us on the way home is burst the moment we walk in the door. Brendan has other things to do in the house that don't involve crazy circuitous conversations with his mom. I will just look forward to the next opportunity and seize it when I can.