time well spent

Sam needed a haircut...BAD! His hair was curling all around his shirt collar and covered his ears and was looking exceptionally poofy. There just never seems to be a good time to bring him in and get it done. Not to mention the whole experience is usually so horrible, we both put it off as long as we possibly can. But the time had come. There was no more putting it off. Sam's hair demanded attention. We had an hour after lunch on Saturday so I just grabbed him and we took ourselves to the Supercuts.

Apparently everyone and their brother also had that exact same hour free and chose to bring themselves and all their relations in for haircuts. I steamed that we had a wait and wandered outside with Sam muttering under my breath about "not having time for this" and "why can't things just be easy for once." Sam took me by the hand and as we walked down the sidewalk he swung my arm. We stopped in front of a shop and looked in the window. Sam asked if we could go in and look at the stuffed animals. After wandering through that store a bit, we headed back outside and popped in and out of a couple more little shops.

The anticipated wait time was nearly up, so we strolled back to Supercuts and sat outside on a bench in the sun.  Sam chattered on about sports related triviality demanding nothing more from me than a little attention. Finally his name was called and we went back inside for his haircut.

Afterwards as we drove home, Sam all smiles and sucking on his lollipop and looking very handsome now that I could see his face again.  He caught me glancing at him and said, "Mom, I had so much fun just you and me.  Can we do that again sometime?"

I'm always on the lookout for opportunities to make meaningful memories with my kids, thinking it has to be Martha perfect in order for it to qualify.  I need to take a lesson from Sam and remember we don't need the perfect outing, we just need to be with each other.