Bonehead

That would be me. There are times when I see a situation only the way I see it and not the way someone else might see it. That's what happened yesterday. Miss S loves to take her lunch to school. She loves to pick out the meat and cheese, crackers or chips, fruit, and her little soccer ball ice pack. She usually packs it and then Denielle or I go through it and put our stamp of approval or veto on it. Then she goes on her merry way to school.

I don't get it. When I was in elementary and up through high school, the last thing I wanted to do was make my own lunch, especially when a hot one was already paid for. As part of foster care, the state pays for hot lunches for all their kids. To me, this is an awesome part; not necessity but awesome nonetheless. I don't know why anyone would go through the hassle of making their own lunch, hauling it off to school, taking it to the cafeteria, back to the classroom, and then lugging it home only to have to clean everything out and start over.

But what if a kid never had parents who cared enough to pack a lunch for their kids? My mom made my lunch for several years until she got too busy and started paying for it. It was a relief for her and made my life easier too. Miss S hasn't had that luxury. She's never taken her lunch to school. What I learned (again, from my amazing wife) is that, to Miss S, taking her lunch to school means that someone at home loves her enough to make sure she gets a good lunch to take every day.

I was getting upset because sometimes she leaves her cooler at school. Not that big of a deal in itself, but now that I'm back in school and FORCED to take my lunch, I need that cooler. I tried to convince her to forget about cold lunches this semester but she wasn't having it. She wasn't arguing with me; she just wanted to take it while she could.

So now I'm going to take her to the store this weekend so she can pick out her own lunch box. I may make boneheaded decisions but I can at least learn from them and show her that I love her by getting her a lunch cooler. Can't I?