I know Matt said we would be taking a short break from the blog as we trekked to Maine. I just had to share this short and cute story with all of you.
So, on the interstate to Maine, we decided to stop for lunch at one of those fastfood joints you see at a rest area -- kind of a mini-mall where you can get gas, eat, walk your pet, pee, buy souviners, etc.
We got our lunch and found a booth and there's this family sitting directly across from us. Looked like a mom, a dad and their son who was maybe all of 5 or 6 years old. When we sat down, the little boy (who looked like he was a bundle of energy) looked over and stuck his tongue out at us! We both just smiled back at him and started eating.
Well, the boy wasn't finished with us! He made this really funny face, you know, kinda sticking his tongue out, making bug-eyes and puckering his lips at us. Then he took a bite of food, started chewing it and then opened his mouth so we could see inside!! Well, we both just cracked up laughing and his parents looked horrified!!
The parents scolded him (nothing dramatic...I think they just wanted him to chill and didn't want everybody in the restaurant looking their way), but did Matt cooperate with their efforts to calm him down? Okay, let's all say it in unison: "NO!"
Matt just smiled and made a really funny face back at him. I thought I was going to have to tell Matt to chill or the parents would have two kids to control! Well, the little boy just cracked up and an instant friendship was made!
So, both of them started making funning faces to see who could outdo the other. The parents watched the whole thing and I think they were relieved that their son was not making loud noises because Matt was putting his index finger to his lips in that universal gesture of saying, "Shhhhhhhhh," and the boy was minding him!
The parents looked so relieved and actually struck up a conversation with us. They were traveling from Connecticut and we told them we were from Massachusetts on our way to visit family in Maine. The mom asked if we were brothers and Matt said, "No. We're boyfriends. My aunt and uncle invited us as a graduation present for Brad." They didn't even bat an eye, but smiled and said that was really thoughtful of them.
We talked a little more and then got up to leave. Well, the little boy got upset we were leaving and started crying. So, after empyting our food tray, Matt went over to the souviner counter and bought a pair of children's sunglasses and took it over to him. You should have seen the boy's face light up. Matt told him they were special sunglasses that helped little boys mind their parents. The boy just looked at Matt and had that look that said, Are you serious? Then he broke out in this huge smile and his parents had to remind him to say thank you. As we were leaving, the boy and Matt were waving goodbye to each other.
When we got back to the car, I just looked at Matt and said, "You know, you are really sweet. I didn't know you were that good with kids." He just smiled back and said, "Well, guess I'm just a big kid myself."
When we were back on the road, I told him I was going to start calling him "Matty the Daddy." He just grinned and said, "Well, you never know. Maybe we'll have kids some day." WHOA! I didn't know what to say. We had never talked about this kind of stuff before. But, Matt, being Matt, just went on talking about his aunt and uncle and jabbering about whatever. As usual, Matt was being a "Chatty Cathy" and I was enjoying hearing everything he was talking about. We were about an hour away from his aunt and uncle's home, so it was relaxing to be talking about different things.
But, I couldn't stop thinking about his comment about having kids. He was so good with that little boy, like he knew exactly how to relate. Well, needless to say this topic deserves more thought..... but for now, I just want to relax and enjoy our little vacation. And "Matty the Daddy" just asked me to put in another CD of some relaxing music. This is going to turn out to be a really cool vacation. I can already feel it!
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