macaroni & cheese

so many kids over the wide space of this country clamor for mac & cheese at lunchtime. it’s the mainstay on kids’ menus for a wide variety of cuisines in this country. pizza place, chinese food, sandwich shop: it makes no difference. macaroni & cheese will show up at every single one for the benefit of the 12 & under crowd.

my kids are no different. but on monday at lunch - when they were all home from school for presidents' day -  i didn’t hear the normal clamor of demands for mac & cheese. instead, my 10 year old just went to the kitchen, got out the pot we use for mac & cheese {yes, there’s one specifically. in fact, if i use it for anything else my 4 year old thinks we’re having mac & cheese and gets disappointed if it’s anything else}, and proceeded to make it. 

just.

like.

that.

like it wasn't his first rodeo. 

like all 10 year olds do this all the time. {maybe they do?}

like i've expected far too little of him for far too long. 

he didn't have many questions. didn't need me looking over his shoulder. he cut cucumbers and apple slices to go alongside said mac & cheese and served it all to his sisters. 

and it hit me yet again, for at least the 1 millionth time since he's been alive. 

he was not made to stay with us forever. 

he is not meant to stay little.

he was made to grow.

raising him means preparing him to fly.

and that whole flying thing is closer than i would like.

and far closer than i imagine.

xoxo