“What did you have for lunch?” I asked innocently as I drove my allegedly starving son home from daycare.
“Chips and cherries.”
I looked into the rearview mirror in confusion. “Chips and cherries?”
“Yeah. Daddy gave me chips and a bag of dried cherries.”
“For lunch?”
“Uh huh.”
I fumed all the way home. Chips and cherries? I have a fully stocked cupboard and fridge full of healthy food ready to be placed in our son’s lunch. I boil eggs, steam edamame, and make sure there are cheese sticks, fresh fruit, and even homemade cookies. While I buy and prepare the food, my ex packs it, arriving at my house shortly before I leave for work every morning. He doesn’t work until mid-morning which puts him on lunch packing duty courtesy divided duty.
While I know I could easily pack Joseph’s lunch the night before, with a collection of choices at his disposal, he prefers to choose what he wants to eat that morning. I don’t blame him. I’m the same way.
Still. When I heard chips and cherries, it nearly took our amicable divorce to straight up hostile. Later that night, I jumped on the computer ready to rant and rave with my girlfriends who have husbands who would never, ever send their child to school with an incomplete lunch.
Then I heard about Gushers being subbed for fruit and Lucky Charm bars for snack. I sat back in my chair and shook my head, remember when my ex used to pack me a raw potato for my lunch thinking I could just microwave it and eat it with apparently nothing.
Maybe this is the difference between moms and dads, men and women?
What do you think?