Kids

This week I was invited over to a friend's house for dinner.  She has seven children and a husband.  Seven children!  Her kids range from 21 inches to six feet five inches in height and from two weeks to 16 years in age.  I haven't been at a table full of kids like this since I was a kid myself.  I really enjoyed myself.  I didn't mind the chaos and the mess and the confusion. I surprised myself with my adeptness at eating spaghetti and clearing the table with an infant in my arms.  I didn't spill any food on her and I didn't bump her head on anything.  Now that I am older I can observe and really appreciate a meal like this.  I notice precious moments that I would otherwise miss.  For example, one little boy, age 6, had just come home from speech therapy.  He was listening to his younger sister, age 15 months talk.  As she ate her dinner, she held up each noodle and said, "Sketti," before she ate it.  He looked down at her seriously, totally imitating a speech therapist, and corrected her.  "It's BAH-sketti," he said.