Apparently Derek isn’t the only one in the family who is learning to be kind.
Many days I feel like despite my best efforts, we live on the funny farm. I feel like people come over and look around at our boys hanging from the railings in their underwear and think they have arrived at some sort of exotic zoo.
Every once in awhile, however, I get a glimpse at the well-mannered, thoughtful side of these seemingly wild animals.
On Saturday evening we were headed home from a really fun family trip. We were in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming. We were all worn down from the fun of our travels, and we had been in the car for several hours. A lot of exhaustion, a little bit of let down, and extra time being together in close quarters typically creates some grumpiness on the drive home in our family.
We had an unfortunate delay on the drive that had left everyone slightly irritable. It was dinnertime, and everyone was hungry. There wasn’t a fast food establishment for hundreds of miles. I went into the local grocery store to buy some things for dinner.
While there, I decided some ice cream might be just the ticket to cheering up our sagging spirits for the drive home. I found a box of Drumsticks and took them out to the car with the rest of the dinner items.
I announced that in addition to dinner I had some Drumsticks to pass out. Without hesitating, Evan piped up and said, “I’ll let someone else have my drumstick. I want to be nice.” I told Evan how much I appreciated his kindness, but that wouldn’t be necessary. He repeated his offer of letting someone else have his drumstick. It isn’t like Evan to turn down ice cream, particularly in the middle of a long, hot car trip. I told him there was enough for everyone to have one as I opened the box and started passing them out (I know- dessert before dinner?!? What kind of Mom am I?!?).
As soon as I passed Evan his ice cream, a huge grin broke across his confused face. He had thought I was talking about chicken drumsticks! Whenever we eat a chicken in this family, the drumsticks are highly fought over by the boys. Someone always has to be willing to give up having a drumstick since there are 3 boys and 2 drumsticks.
We all had a good laugh over his confusion, and his selfless act left us all feeling a little more cheerful. And although Evan’s hair can be a bit unruly ( we did cut it after this picture was taken), maybe these boys aren’t so wild after all!
P.S. We did actually have a chicken for dinner on Monday night. Evan gave up his drumstick for real that time. He’s a man of action!
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