Love is Jack in the Box Tacos

I've had better days.

Today was long and stressful, and by the time I left work at 7:30 I knew one thing: I was NOT going home and making myself dinner. I thought about my fast food options and decided on something I hadn't had in two years or more: tacos from Jack in the Box.

OH MY LANDS. That first bite took me straight back to my adolescence. I thought about how my mom worked so hard as a single parent, which meant that we were often served fast food for dinner, before she jetted off to her second job. I often wished she were able to be home more to cook for us (she's an amazing cook), but also knew that she would if she could.

Now that I'm a mother who works outside the home, I get it. After giving 110% to your employer, what's left? Just enough to drive through a fast food joint for dinner, that's what.

It was kinda funny a few weeks ago, I got home and actually had a plan for dinner: hamburgers. Then, just as I'm getting ready to start pulling everything out of the fridge, my husband, who's almost never home for dinner, walked through the door! His hamburger making skills are SO much better than mine that I said, "You're home! Would you mind barbecuing hamburgers for us?!"  He looked at me like I'd asked him to paint the exterior of the house or something just as taxing, and replied somewhat deflated, "Sure." 

He shuffled toward the sliding glass door that leads to the backyard patio where the grill resides, but stopped short and turned back around. He pulled out a bill from his wallet and said, "OR we could use this to go out for dinner." I started laughing. Couldn't help myself, and said while waving my arms in a circular motion in front of his weary self, "See this? This right here? This, 'I'm too tired to make dinner' thing going on? That's me EVERY SINGLE NIGHT when you're not home and the girls are demanding food." He smiled, and it felt good to know that he 'got it'. 

Life is full, and having to deal with "What's for dinner?" day in and day out can be a parent's undoing, but take heart! Some 35-40 years from now, your child just might have an epiphany in a fast food drive thru and actually appreciate you and the efforts you're making to keep them fed.

Blessings and greasy tacos to you and yours.