The Watermelon

As many Mondays as possible, we try to all get together and share a family dinner.

This week provided a story that will be told for years to come, I feel certain.

Everyone had finally arrived and was moving toward the kitchen. I bustled around trying to get all the final items dished up and on the table.

I happened to tune in just in time to hear Spencer's little voice saying, "Go, Poppa."

And Joy responding, "Not yet.  Everyone isn't sitting down yet."

Chairs scrapping.  Lots of conversations flowing around one another. Tea pouring into glasses.  Serving spoons being added to dishes.

"Go, Poppa!"

"Not yet.  Let everybody get to the table, Spencer."

I came to the table last and took my place.  Spencer watched my every move with huge eyes.  My thought?  "How precious to be adored by a little one!"

As soon as my chair stopped moving he spoke a bit more loudly and added a wave of his hand, "Go, Poppa!"

He wanted Poppa to ask the blessing for the food.  But his urgency wasn't spiritually motivated. And he wasn't watching Noni because he loved her.

It seems that as I placed the different serving dishes on the table I had put a bowl of lovely, red watermelon right in front of the toddler.  Naturally, he reached out to help himself.

But Mom quickly admonished, "You have to wait until Poppa asks the blessing!"

Joy said he eyed the bowl the way a starving man would!  And repeatedly asked that Poppa go ahead with the prayer.  Relief only came when he heard, "AMEN!"

And it seems Abby shares her brother's love for "wahermewon"!  The two of them are capable of stuffing HUGE pieces of the juicy, red fruit into their tiny mouths.

We watched, mesmerized as fat little fists would close around pieces an adult man would eat with caution.

Then the stuffing would commence.  Cheeks pressed to the maximum capacity reminded us of chipmunks preparing for a long Winter. 

Once the stuffing concluded, the "chewing" (and I use that term loosely) began.  Juice flowed from perfect bow lips and dripped off chubby elbows onto Noni's freshly mopped floor.

Who cares?!  That's why they sell mops!
 
Our entertainment for the evening was a $6.00 watermelon (probably the last of the season.)  Broadway tickets at any cost could never have equaled the laughter, the joy, the marvelous experience of family dinner and that watermelon!