I had a delightful lunch with my second grader.

The excitement of 2 teeth missing and a recent birthday and whether or not its okay to have girlfriends in the second grade. The blessing of looking into the eyes of the future and knowing that he has everything ahead of him. The stressers of a bully on the bus, and or the naughtiness that creeps into his mind that he acts on, like tying his shoes together in AIG class. All of these interests and concerns of his are mine at this age. I linger at the table because this is the last time that my child will be interested in 2nd grade interests. It is a delight for me to enter into that thought for just a moment. I carried a piece of fruit to mark the occasion. He would not eat it.
I had forgotten to introduce fruit to this dearest of second graders to me. Now it is a hard task to get him to bite the peach. I don't like hairy stuff in my mouth, he said. I got 2 or 3 bites into him. I am going to miss being six years old and seven. "Now we must grow up"