Waiting For 7:03

Bert and I spent Saturday with my stepdaughter, Ariana. We arrived mid-morning and took her for an early lunch at the mall, a place we adore. What's better than two stories of wall-to-wall clothes? Nada.

Anyway, we made our way to the food court and ordered Wendy's for her, as requested. She inquired as to why we weren't eating, so we explained to her that we were fasting. About two minutes later, she decided she didn't really want much of her Wendy's Frosty.

I didn't think much of it, because it was chilly in the food court. We went on and began shopping. All three of us love buying new clothes. A few hours later, armed with our bags of new shirts and such, we headed out to visit Bert's grandparents.

"So how long do you have to do this fasting?" she asked.
"Thirty days," I replied. "But, Ariana, kids don't fast. You don't have to be afraid to tell us when you're hungry, OK?"
"I'm fine. I'm not hungry," she said.

A few hours went by and she again asked if ANY kids fasted. I told her just adults had to fast, and that if she got hungry to tell me.

We arrived a few minutes later at Bert's grandparent's house where Ariana adamantly turned down a Coke. I told her she could have one, but she said she didn't want one. She laid in my lap and gave me lots of hugs. I could tell she was getting really tired from all the running around.

After leaving one set of grandparents, we headed over to the next grandma.

"So kids never fast, right?" she continued to ask.
Finally, after we told her once again that kids don't fast, she called me into Grandma #2's kitchen.

"Anisa, can I please have a snack?" she asked.
"Of course," I replied.

It was probably 4:00 in the afternoon, and she had existed the entire day on five chicken nuggets, some Sprite, a few bites of a Frosty and some Mandarin Orange slices.

After her snack and a visit, we left to do some more visiting and went to walk by the river. She continually updated us on how close we were to 7:03 PM. She knew that was the golden hour when we would all sit down to eat.

She was so very excited as we got closer to dinner. She said her favorite restaurant was O'Charley's, and that's what we chose. Boy, did we eat! Salads, bread, an appetizer, meals and a dessert to share. The waiter told us he was impressed.

We had a wonderful day, and a wonderful meal.

As we dropped her off, she did something she's never done before. Each time we take her back, I open up my door for her to come give me a hug. But this time, as soon as the car stopped, she jumped out and opened my door herself, before I even had a chance.

She greeted me with a great big hug.

"Let's do this again!" she exclaimed.

We shall, my darling. We shall.