Noodle worms

We had Pesto (my homemade sauce from basil grown in my herb garden last summer) chicken and fettucini for dinner Monday night. My kids absolutely love my pesto. I have to say, it's really pretty good. I put tons of extra cheese in it and it's really nice.

At the beginning of this school year, when I made out lunch menus for each day of the week, the children asked for hot lunches a couple of days a week. They said they wanted pesto left-overs anytime I made it, as well as Ramen noodles occasionally and soup some days. So, dutiful Mom warmed the pesto chicken and noodles, added salt and an extra sprinkling of Parmesan, and put them in their thermos containers Tuesday morning.

Dane came home from school yesterday, plopped down at the kitchen table (it's so wonderful to have our kitchen table back - and all the sunlight, which was in short supply in England), opened his lunchbox and began eating his pesto - at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Me: "Dane, why are you just now eating your pesto?"

Dane: "Well, I didn't eat it at lunchtime and I'm hungry now."

Me: "I can see you didn't eat it at lunchtime. Why not?"

Dane: "Well, it was embarrassing."

Me: "WHAT was embarrassing?" (in an incredulous tone of voice)

Dane: "My lunch. Everyone was staring at me when I started to eat my pesto, so I put it away and I'm eating it now."


He's only in the 2nd grade!!! And he's embarrassed by his food - my wonderful homemade pesto that he's crazy about? Something's got to change.

After Deanna clamored out of the new van this morning at school, I asked Dane to stay behind. We talked about the importance of pleasing only God and that it doesn't matter what other people think. The ONLY thing that matters is holiness and what God thinks. It's a hard thing to learn. I still struggle with it. But if he can just get this concept down now, life will go much better for him.

When he looked at me doubtfully, I took another tact.

"Make it into a joke, son," I suggested. "If the kids make fun of what you're eating, pick up a big forkful of the noodles, say, 'It's just worms - yummy!' and laugh. Your friends will all yell, 'Yuck' and 'Gross'. Some may even yell 'I want some!' Then everybody will laugh and it'll all be okay. Humor helps a lot in dealing with hard situations."

Dane's doubtful expression never changed. "Mom," he began, "we're not allowed to laugh at lunch and we're certainly not allowed to talk."

But Daelyn got a kick out of it. As he sat at the kitchen table eating his spiderman macaroni and cheese for lunch, there were several comments about it being worms.

Maybe it'll sink in with Daelyn and one of my children will rise above what other's think.