Sweet Surprises

I never expected to have a baby on my own, and I certainly never expected to need a gestational carrier. But last week I had a sweet moment that I would have never experienced had I not followed Plan B (or are we on to Plan K by this point?).

Vanessa was leaving town for a business meeting and her husband came down with a bad cold, even staying home from work one day (which he never does). Vanessa was stressed to be leaving a sick husband in charge of their three children while she'd be 7 states away for 3 days and nights. I offered to go over to her house after work and take the kids to dinner to give him a break. Vanessa pitched the plan to her husband and he protested that he'd be fine - but their 4-year old heard the conversation and said, "I want to go out to dinner with Liv!!!!!". And so it was written.

The 8-year old, the 4-year old and I headed to Friendly's, leaving the 1.5 year old at home with daddy. They talked the entire time, trying to sweet talk me into letting them get the tall, blue sugar-syrup drink concoction with cheese sticks and a side of fries (sugar, fat & grease x 10). After deep negotiations, we settled for water, cheese sticks, fries and ice cream (fat, grease, sugar x 10).

In the midst of all of this excitement, the 4-year old whipped around and said, "Do you know that I've kissed your baby? I've poked her too!".

Something about this moment in Friendly's, surrounded by two little boys and talk of snakes, scabs, blood and really bad food, made me grateful for my journey. It is not the path I would have chosen or the one I expected, but it is one I love.