But I Didn't

Tonight I was invited to a somewhat rare opportunity to eat dinner at a "fancy" restaurant--a steakhouse with fine ratings and spectacular macaroni and cheese.  We had worked a long day: a morning spent furiously typing outlines for witness examinations and an afternoon in a baking courtroom. It was a well deserved treat.

But I didn't go.

I worked a little more, tied up loose ends and polished an affidavit or two. I rang the Bell on the way home, picking up a few tacos to share with my little man.  Surprise! I arrived to an empty house. I ate my dinner at the table in my pink flannel 'jammies while I read my new Good Housekeeping magazine--fine dining indeed.

R.J. arrived home with his daddy moments later. "Hi mama!" he shouted, "I miss you!"  He clambered up on the chair: "I sit in your lap."

A package sat on the table--Christmas presents from the Florida grandma's. "Oh, I get present!"

Painstakingly, he stripped away the paper, postage stamp sized pieces falling to the floor.  "I get airplane!"  (a Fisher Price tree ornament). "I get book!" "That for you," he says, handing me chocolate reindeer.  Finer dining.

I could have eaten the best of OKC. But I didn't.  I settled for Taco Bell and chocolate reindeer sprinkled with toddler sugar kisses.  Priorities. Check.

And I could have missed these moments, where R.J. opened his first presents of the Christmas season;  where R.J. heard his Great Grandma read a story; and where R.J. delighted in the very giftiness of his gifts:

But I didn't.