The Fastest Way to a Mom's Heart

My husband and I have been spending the past 9 months or so adjusting to what is commonly referred to “empty nest syndrome.’ Our two sons moved out within 2 months of each other and we were devastated. It has been an interesting transition to say the least.  Now that we have nearly a year under our belts, we have found that we love being empty nesters. But still, we miss our boys. Even though our son Robby lives close by, we rarely see him. I can usually bribe him to come over and visit with groceries and the promise of a hot dinner. But he lives a pretty busy life, so those visits are few and far between. But if all it takes is a bag ½ full of groceries to get a quick visit, I’m all in. In fact, I’ve found that the secret to getting my grown boys to visit or even hug me, it’s groceries. It’s true. The fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And to be honest, handing my son a bag of groceries makes me happy.

Recently, I had to return my son, Sam, to college after a few days home with us. Because the drive is so long, I opted to spend the night in his apartment before embarking on the 4 hour trip home. After we walked downtown to get some pizza, we settled in for the night. The next morning, as I waited to take him to class on my way out of town, I got to do some things for my son in his place, that I would have to evoke a screaming fit to get him to do in mine.

            I washed his dishes

            I cleaned out his fridge

            I emptied the garbage

When it was suddenly time to go, I wished out loud that we would have gone to the store to get him some groceries the night before. But it was too late. He was going to be late for class and I needed to get on the road. But the vision of that empty fridge haunted me. I felt terrible. Then a miracle happened. Less than 2 minutes after I dropped him off, Sam called to say that the class wasn’t meeting today. “I guess we can go get me some groceries,” he said cheerfully. Happiness washed over me. I didn’t have to leave my son with an empty fridge after all. Maybe the fastest way to a man’s heart is through is stomach, but the fastest way to this mom’s heart is through a grocery store.