Sunday Stories

We were sitting eating dinner when I realized that I had never seen Nick throw away his chewing gum.

I'm not in the habit of handing out gum, but Nick's friend at karate had given him a gumball, so what could I do?

"Nick, where is your gum? Did you swallow it?"

Nick didn't say anything. He just shrugged and shook his head No.

"It's OK if you swallowed it. It's not great, but you won't get into trouble or anything."

"I didn't swallow it," Nick insisted.

"Well then did you throw it out?"

"No, I didn't throw it out."

You're probably wondering why I cared so much to continue this line of questioning. Keep reading.

"Well then what happened to your gum?"

"It kind of fell out of my mouth."

"It fell? Where? How?"

"I was just opening my mouth, and the gum feel right out."

"Did you pick it up?"

"No. I couldn't find it."

"So there is gum somewhere in the car, a chewed wad of gum, on the seat or on the floor?"

The boys all look at me blankly.

"Guys, you can't have gum just sitting in the car! Someone will sit on it or step it in, and it won't come out!"

Something must have impressed them, because both Nick and Nate checked the soles of their shoes. "Don't worry, Mom. We didn't step on anything."

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I was chatting with another karate mother at the coffee shop. She was telling me about how she had to stop drinking coffee because the caffeine kept her up at night.

She got up to get a cup of decaf, and her daughter started talking. This is a little girl we have known for over a year, but recently she has warmed up to us. I know this because she's gone from a quiet, shy little girl to a chatty, funny, inquiring child.

"My mom hasn't had coffe in a year!" She started. "She mostly just drinks a lots and lots of iced tea."

"Well, iced tea will keep her awake, too, if she drinks too much of it."

"Well, she used to drink it all the time, every day, iced tea, all the time. But she doesn't drink so much of it anymore," said the girl.

I shrugged. "Maybe she was drinking it in the summer. It's a great summer drink because it's cool."

"Yeah," she said. "She used to drink it all the time. But now she just drinks wine."

"Me too!" I said.