my lunch date

there are so many things that i like about my job, and so many good things about the childcare that my children receive when i am at work. their child care center is across the street from the clinic i work in, and both are attached to a hospital that i feel very good about working for. but the best thing that happens are my lunch dates. every once in a while (and, unfortunately, an ever rarer occasion), my lunch hour is actually free of work to do. i sneak away from the clinic, and walk to ramona's classroom. i get there right before her lunch is served, and when she seems me, she leaps into my arms and asks if we get to go on a cafeteria lunch date.

it. is. the. best.

alone time with her is so infrequent, but so fun. we hold hands, she chats with me as we walk through the hospital to the cafeteria, she picks out her food (under parental guidance toward nutritious choices, of course), and then she chooses where we sit. lately, we sit outside, and she carefully selects a table half in the shade (for her) and half in the sun (for me). it makes the rest of any kind of work day better. i think she feels that way, too. and so so so soon, these days, these lunch dates, will be over. she'll get older, she'll start school, and i'll forever remember my favorite kind of lunch date.

last week, after our lunch date, she jumped up on the cement structures along the entrance to the hospital, and danced a joyful spontaneous jig.

oh boy, i hope james is up to some heart-warming lunch dates with me when he is 3.