A trail of kettle corn between the kitchen and living room was hard to miss when I came home after my son had been here yesterday. There was a time when I would have given my kids grief about not cleaning up after themselves, but this time was different. This time, I just smiled to myself and thought, “this will always be home.”
In the current season of life, with my sons grown and out of the house, there are often days when I reflect back to my parenting years. I wonder if I’m the only one who does this. I think of the things I would do differently if I could go back in time. I go over and over the mistakes I’ve made (not healthy), always evaluating and reevaluating – knowing there are no “re-do’s” in this life.
This morning when I packed my lunch for work and there were nothing but tiny crumbs left in the once full bag of kettle corn, I was reminded again of when the kids were young. But I found myself so glad to think that my son still stops by and that he is still just as comfortable to open the cupboard and help himself to whatever he wants. I do hope that never changes!
I worked from our house when the kids were growing up. Their friends whose parents worked outside the home would come here after school. Since I could stop working and leave in a moment’s notice for emergencies, I was the parent who had a key to many houses, and was the emergency contact at schools for several neighborhood kids.
My kids’ friends came to my house. They played at my house. They ate at my house. I never, ever, ever worried about not having enough. There was ALWAYS enough. There were enough popsickles, meatballs, chocolate chip cookies, macaroni and cheese – you name it! And I cannot think of anything more satisfying that seeing your kids and their friends devour your cookies, to hear them brag to their friends about MY meatballs being the best, or just watching them feel comfortable opening the fridge and sharing whatever we had with their friends – without even thinking twice about it.
There’s also nothing more inviting, welcoming, and loving than asking someone to sit at your kitchen table and share a meal, even if it’s an unexpected guest. Getting a visitor and sharing anything at all while sitting at the kitchen table is still something I enjoy so much!
There was always enough during my single parenting years, and there will always be enough in the future. God has always provided for me in every season of parenting – and often at the very last minute! Sharing some of those provisions is definitely something I look back at and never regret.
I’m thankful today for that trail of kettlecorn through my kitchen. It reminds me that there are some things I may have done well! A welcoming kitchen was one of them.
I hope today that YOU get an unexpected guest, that you welcome them into your home, and to pull a chair up to you kitchen table where certainly you have something to share. And if, by chance, you wind up at my kitchen – you’d better come hungry, because I’m feeding you!
But only my kids are allowed to leave kettle corn trails!
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