“nom nom nom nom nom,” I grunted in a sing-song monsteresque voice while waiting in the line at a drive-thru restaurant. My hands pounced on my husband’s stomach to tickle him. My two-year-old sitting in the backseat went crazy with laughter that her daddy was the victim of the tickle monster instead of her. My husband was surprised at this twist of events, too. He laughed and lovingly said, “you are weird.” At one point while waiting, he randomly gave a funny scream. It took both my daughter and me by surprise, and then we all just laughed.
I don’t enjoy waiting, but that was one of the happiest drive-thru moments I’ve ever had. I was challenged to make my child laugh this week. It’s not hard to make my two-year-old laugh, so it wasn’t much of a challenge. It was eye-opening though. We knocked off so much stress just by playing together as a family for a short three minute period. It was weird to any outsider, but to us, it was fun.
One of my favorite memories thus far is when someone from church gave G a soccer ball and we spent an evening teaching her how to kick it. She had just learned to walk and was starting to work toward running and better balance. We played together that evening - just the three of us. She laughed each time the ball was kicked, whether she kicked it or not. Her laughter was contagious. We had so much fun that evening, too.
As life is moving on, I’m tempted to add more to my plate. I have to remind myself that during this season of life, my family is what my focus is on right now. I want to look back and remember these moments where we laughed and played together. I know that I could learn something new by being a part of four different Bible studies, being in charge of a Halloween Block Party, or organizing some event for some thing. However, I must be mature enough to know my limits and place my family first. So for now, I’m choosing the tickle monster, the front yard soccer lessons, and the hide & seek games. I’m choosing the challenge of making my child laugh.
