Walking and Talking
Me; “If you could only have 2 kinds of drinks and 4 kinds of food for the rest of your life, what would they be?”
Me: “Water and coffee. Chicken, kale, oats and peanut butter,”
Lifa: “Water and bubble tea. Sushi, chimichanga, Mom’s BBQ pulled pork, and that cheesey sandwich thing we order.” (Pork, pineapple, cheese trammezini from a local restaurant.)
We harshly judged each other’s answers, and I informed him that he would be coming to me begging me for nutrition in less than two weeks.
Lifa: “If you could have just one wish - and it couldn’t be for more wishes - what would it be?”
Me: “I’d go STRAIGHT Solomon. Wisdom. That’s what I’d ask for.”
Lifa: Chattered for the next 30 minutes, progressively amazing himself more. It started with “good in the world”, eventually brought heaven to earth, and then moved on to everything he drew coming to life, money laundering, and raising people from the dead so no one would be a victim of COVID-19.
I listen, marvel, laugh, and then realize what a gift it is to get to know a side of him that usually only friends get at this age.
Lifa: “Mom, what was your favorite gif when you guys were kids?”
Me: “Lifa, there was no internet. Do you know what a floppy disk is?”
End of conversation.
We’re living up Lockdown Level 3, y’all! Since our exercise time restrictions lifted yesterday, we’ve been on three walks a day. I walked 10 miles yesterday! I love walking with the boys. Benjamin waves to birds and dogs while while munching on rice cakes. And Lifa TALKS. He talks and talks and talks. We talk about his dream outfit, his favorite music, our strengths and weaknesses, our roles in the family, what it would be like if Mom and Dad were teachers at his school, how to have quiet times, what we hear God saying to us, how to pray for our family, the hard and easy things we have to learn as a family, and we think of funny questions he can ask his friends when they chat online. A bunch of bored 7th graders who haven’t been allowed to leave their houses for 3 months can’t find much to say.
I love the random conversation starter questions because it’s such a rare opportunity to disciple my pre-teen on how to have relationships as a very virtual generation. How to have conversations. How to get to reach, think, and see people even through a screen. How to be a friend. I give him riddles, (clean!) “Would You Rather” question, superlative games, and fun questions to ask friends, and then we try to make up our own.
The world feels crazy and weird right now. But, amongst all the things we can’t do, there’s extra space for the very most important things.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deut 6:5-7
Back in the day (3 days ago) when had our conversations on long car rides to nowhere because we couldn’t go on walks yet!