Sometimes I get so caught up in the hectic pace of everyday life that I forget to slow down and enjoy the simple things. This is never the case for my son, Austin. He can find joy in playing in the dirt or splashing in a puddle. This week it was picking a pumpkin for Halloween.
Monday he was out of school as his teachers were having an in-service. So, I took off work and we spent the day together. I kind of made him do school work. He is studying government and he didn’t do well on his first test, mainly because he never told me he had a test and didn’t bring his book home, so we didn’t study. Well, feeling guilty for dropping the ball on that, I decided on his day off, we would go to City Hall and learn first hand about City Government.
The Mayor of Auburn, AL was good enough to schedule an appointment with us and to my surprise, Austin was very excited about meeeting him. The Mayor showed us his office, explained his job, answered Austin’s questions, asked a few questions himself and then gave us a brief tour. Austin decided he liked this government job, but told the Mayor he would rather be President. Well, it’s good to have lofty goals I thought.
Anyway, after a full day of tours, play, shopping and fun, I needed to stop at the store for some potatoes for dinner. At this point I could just lookat Austin and know he was not up for going to another store, so I had an idea. As we passed a farmer’s market, I noticed the pumpkins out front. I decided to make it a “punkin’ pickin’ adventure” and get my potatoes while we were there.
Austin was all over this idea. “Want to pick some pumpkins for Halloween?” I asked casually. “Heck, yeah!” came his estatic response. So we pulled into the farmer’s market and he was out the door almost before the car came to a complete stop. First we went inside and looked at the “baby pumpkins” as he calls the miniature ones. He decided we had to have three baby pumpkins and three large pumpkins, one for each family member to decorate.
I have to admit, I have a phobia of carving pumpkins. Family members think I am strange, but we never did this growing up. The first time my husband carved a pumpkin with my son, I could not get over the smell and the squishy inside. Yuk! Reminds me of brains! Anyway, now we have a compromise. We draw faces on the small ones with paint pens and for the large ones I have found some goofy faces that you just poke into the pumpkins (think Mr. Potato Head for pumpkins).
After picking the baby pumpkins (and my potatoes), we headed outside. A nice gentleman accompanied us with a shopping cart. Austin gleefully ran up and down the hill, inspecting each and every pumpkin as if to determine if it was worthy of becoming our family pumpkin. He ran, he jumped, he laughed, he laid next to them, he inspected the stems. He called his Dad on the phone and told him he was “punkin’ pickin’”. I was amazed at the pure joy such a simple act could give him. The market worker and I just laughed at his antics.
Finally he had selected the best three pumpkins in the patch and I raved in amazement at his pumpkin picking skill. The market worker agreed and said he was by far the best pumpkin picker he had seen all season. As we paid for our pumpkins, the cashier offered him a sucker. Austin smiled and said “This is a nice place. I think I want to work here when I get big.” (I don’t know if that is before or after he is President). The cashier assured him there would be a spot for him when he was ready.
As we loaded up the pumpkins and got ready to go, Austin exclaimed “We’ll be back. I’m a good Christmas tree picker too!” Though we broke down and bought an artificial tree two years ago, I didn’t have the heart to burst his bubble. I simply said “Yes, he is. We will definitely be back.” And we will be back, because I can’t wait to see what fun he will have picking out that tree. It’s enough to make you wish you were seven again!
