Went in to Little Caesars to buy some bread-sticks for my grandson Milo. It was really just a take-out place with a few chairs for waiting, no tables set up for dining in. I paid for the bread-sticks and told Milo we could eat them in the car, but Milo had other plans.
"Want to sit here with me Mimi?" Milo asked as he was already seated.
"There really isn't a place to eat here, is there Milo?" I answered, thinking he might change his mind.
He was unfazed by the lack of table space, had made himself comfortable and was ready to enjoy his bread-sticks.
"OK, we'll just sit for a while." I answered
I pushed two of the chairs close together and we snacked on warm bread-sticks. Our conversation covered the most important of topics that occur in a 4 year old boy's mind. We discussed the "Little Caesar Man" that was painted on the wall in front of us. Is he real..... is he a guy..... and as all conversations go with Milo, he isn't bigger than the Hulk because the only one bigger than the Hulk is God.
I love life through the eyes of toddlers. They are able to size up little things in life that are really of monumental importance. Want to sit here with me? Want to watch me? Those two small questions highlight two very big basic human needs. I want to feel noticed and I want to be important. A few minutes in a kind of awkward seating situation fulfilled those needs. You are important to me and therefore I want to take this time to sit with you and share bread-sticks and conversation.
In the simplistic part of my brain I want to believe that such seemingly simple acts could cure so much. I should more often ask the same question of people, all kinds and ages of people. Want to sit here with me? Or more importantly I probably should live with the assumption that most people, grown-up people, live with that question in their minds and hearts often but unlike toddlers are more guarded and are too shy to ask.
So soon, find someone, you probably already have someone in mind and ask, want to sit here with me? Bread-sticks are optional!