The Sweetest Salad

Imagine this scene in your mind.
Doug and I are finishing our dinner. One-year-old grandson Sebastian, aka His
Royal Cuteness, asks me to hold him as I am finishing my salad. So here I sit
with salad bowl in my left hand, Sebastian on my lap, and fork in my right
hand.

I pause from eating and give him my fork to experiment with. He pokes around in
the few remaining pieces of lettuce, cabbage and avocado, exploring this new
tool. Unexpectedly, he lays down the fork, reaches into my salad bowl, grabs a
few pieces of salad, looks sweetly into my eyes, and reaches up to feed me!

He continues putting salad pieces into my mouth, sometimes a few pieces at a
time and sometimes a single tiny morsel, feeding me the same way he feeds
himself…fingers into my mouth first,  followed my a firm push with the palm of his
hand. Lemon juice covered much of my face, and lettuce pieces lay on the floor aruond
us.

This may have been the messiest
salad I ever ate, but no salad was ever sweeter. I will always treasure these
tender, precious moments with Sebastian and the innocence in his beingness.

No matter their age, children
bless us daily with memories to last a life time. Make these moments count—for
you and your child. What special moment have you shared with your child today?