Thankful for the little things

This past Friday after school, my son (a freshman) alerted me to the fact that on Monday he would have a project due for World Geo and might need my help. “Don’t freak out,” he prefaced it. “But I have to make something that people in Bulgaria eat and then make a poster board about it. And since I have a soccer tournament this weekend, I might need you to help me.” Translation: I need you to find a recipe, buy the ingredients and make it.

I must have sighed a little too loudly because my other son (a junior) put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Aren’t you glad I’m not an overachiever. Just think about how much work I save you.”

Good point. He spent his weekend recovering from having his four wisdom teeth extracted. Between trying to keep his cheeks from overtaking his entire face, he popped pain pills, watched movies and was a model patient. He was also supposed to be studying for his mid-terms—which he did. A little.

Monday morning Ben headed to school with platters of Tutmanik (bread made with Feta cheese) and Medeni Kurabii (honey cookies) and a poster board. His brother still looked as though he were packing some marbles in his mouth, so he stayed home one more day to recuperate. When I mentioned that he needed to be studying for his French exam, he put Mean Girls into the DVD player and set the language to French. Not really what I meant, but I’ll give him points for creativity: Je m'appelle Caty. Enchanté!

Of course he learned some handy-dandy swear words too. I’m sure his teacher would be impressed. Hopefully he doesn’t remember those, but who am I kidding. He may not profess to be an overachiever, but he has a pretty good memory. I just hope the pain meds cause some amnesia.