Opportunities Missed

Last night was a bit crazy. It was Benjamin's birthday and he had requested Little Caesar's pizza, so dinner wasn't much work. Ken and the boys had soccer practice and Frances and I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some strawberries and a few other odds and ends we needed.

At home, she worked on some homework, while I tidied up the kitchen and set the table. Ken would pick up the pizzas that I had already ordered on his way home and then we could eat.

The boys crashed through the door, still wired from soccer. Ken followed behind with all the bags and two boxes of pizza. I got them on the table and started to serve the food. I asked Ben (knowing that I had ordered a special olive pizza for him), "Do you want...pepperoni {opening the box} or...ONIONS?!?!

I had called and ordered one pizza with pepperoni (check) and one with olives. "Just olives?" the guy asked.

"Just olives," I replied.

And then (I can see it in my head) he circled the "O" for olives and passed along the order to the chef.

Do you see where this went wrong??

The birthday boy was NOT happy!

Ken volunteered to run back to the restaurant, while I called and explained what had happened. The lady on the phone promised to get an OLIVE pizza started right away.

We don't live far from the restaurant, but the waiting time was a bit awkward. The kids and I were hungry, but I didn't think it would be very nice to start eating without Ken. Especially since the main course wasn't even there. We tried chatting a little bit, but everyone was kind of cranky so that didn't really work.

Henry got up to wander the dining room and he found a note on the computer desk.

"Who scribbled on this!?!" he yelled, holding up a scrap of paper with his user name and password for an online game.

"I have no idea, sweetheart. Why does it matter?"

"This paper is important! And they scribbled on it!"

"Honey, they scribbled on the bottom, you can still read what you need to." I couldn't figure out what was so offensive about a little pen mark on his paper.

"But they could have scribbled on my password!!"

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. "You're upset about something that could have happened, but didn't?"

I wish I could say that he let go of his annoyance, but the reality is that he was too tired to see clearly and he hung on to it.

I tried not to make it a big deal. I offered him a hug and I told all three kids, "If you look around for things that will make you mad, you'll find a whole lot of them. But if you look around for things to be grateful for, that's what you'll see."

And then the pizza showed up and we had dinner and ate cookies and went to bed. Because the real reality is that sometimes the teachable moments don't show up at a time when the students are ready to learn. But at least Benjamin had a happy birthday!

This post has been brought to you by the #1Word Blog Challenge. This week the words were reality and offensive. You can find more details or link up here: