Five Grapes

Well, I wish this was going to be about how just five grapes can make fine wine... but it isn't. This, instead, is about my 6-year old and how our discussion about five grapes changed how I look at my life.

Does it drive you crazy when you take the time to pack a lunch that's diverse nutritionally- I can't believe that I actually typed that- and some or most of it comes home, or, better than that, gets eaten on the bus? It makes me a little nutty...

Three mornings ago, I was making lunches as D sat at the breakfast bar eating her bagel. I pack my kids lunches 4 out of 5 mornings and frankly, I'm not so inspired in the lunch department. So, I was organizing sandwiches, chips, trail mix, string cheese and grapes. Since she was there, and I didn't want lunch re-runs at 2:30p, I asked her "How many grapes do you want?" and she replied "Five." Ok. I cut off a tiny bunch, and there were six; so, I asked "Is six OK?" She responded "No, that's too many, I won't eat them." Me: "Eat them all or eat any?" Her: "Eat any. Too much." Hmm. Seriously? Five is OK but six is too much? Really? All right. Whatever. What did I do? I pulled off a grape and stuck it in her brothers lunch. And, D took five grapes to school. And ate them. Ate all her lunch. Score!

So, later in the day, I'm thinking about the "five grape" incident. And, I'm thinking about my coffee table, and my kitchen counters, and my office desk, and my craft table, and the bathrooms that needed to be cleaned, and the pantry that's messy, and... well, you know. It kind of all felt like six grapes. Too much. Instead of eating "six grapes", I was just going to shove the whole lot back in my lunch box and not do any of it. Then I called Amy. Because that's what I do. Thankfully, she still takes my calls. We talked about the "five grapes" and then my realization. We both agreed that it was thoughtful and insightful lunch packing advice. And, an interesting way to look at life in general.

We got off the phone, and I applied the "five grape" theory to my ever growing to-do list. I chose one thing, the kitchen counters. I cleared them off and then actually felt like doing another to-do. So, I did- the coffee table. And then I did another, the desk- and another- the bathroom counters. And, then I was done- not with everything, holy cats, not by a long shot, but I was done for then. I curled up with my book and read for a while; didn't feel guilty, didn't feel like I was sneaking around. It was nice. And weird, but mostly nice. Calmer. More peaceful. Productive.

What I learned is to focus on what you can "eat", if the task is too big to be tackled all at once, don't just shove it back into the lunch box, break it down into five grape bunches, and then eat each bunch grape by grape, lunch by lunch. It's better, not so overwhelming, so discouraging, so much. Smaller bits and bites, and you get to be successful, and being successful leads to being more and more successful, and not having to bring your lunch home with you every day. You get to finish it and pack new things for tomorrow's lunch.

She's only 6, but sometimes she's smarter than the rest of us. Now, we adults need to figure out what WE want in our lunches.