I don’t always get a chance to “connect” with my boys like I want to. They are at the age now where I’m not sure what I should say, or can say, that won’t embarrass them or have them doing the infamous eye roll at me.
J. had a doctor’s appointment today across town, and since The Man Thing caused us to be late (as usual) by not coming back on time, we were in a rush to get there before we missed our window.
So when we left, we decided to take our time coming home and drive through downtown Richmond and take the scenic route home. We stopped at McDonald’s and hit the dollar menu up (two double cheeseburgers – his plain, mine loaded – a small order of fries and the requisite BBQ sauce) and we were on our way. We’re driving along, just chatting and laughing, when we come upon some people walking. J. proceeds to lean out the window and yell, “Hi!” and wave like mad at the pedestrians.
Yeah – I about fell out laughing at the unexpectedness of it all.
So I said to him, “Why don’t we tell everyone we see ‘Hi!’ and put a smile on their faces?”
That was all it took! We yelled “Hi!” and waved to everyone we saw walking along the street.
It surprised me at how many people gave us this shocked look as if to say, “Who, me?” (or else they were just wondering who the two crazy people in the Chrysler were!)
What was nice though is that, more often than not, people smiled and yelled back “Hi!” in return – which just made J. grin from ear to ear.
The best part of all though was when we turned to come down our street and head towards home, J. said to me, “You’re fun to hang out with.”
I could not have asked for a better gift today.
