Updated: 03/13/2009 5:18 PM KSTP.com | Print Story
By: Tim Sherno

SHERNO: Lunch meeting

A shift in my schedule opens up my day to have lunch with my son -the goal is once a week. Today, I hustled out of the house a little early and surprised him as he was waiting in line.  There was a buzz in the lunch-line today  --it was spaghetti day. That's apparently major news.

We moved through the line, I chatted with the smiling (chef?) who handed me my tray. Smile all around today. My son 'paid.'

My son and I made our way to an open table and sat down across from each other. I told him that when I had some soup a few days earlier, I ended up wearing some of it on my shirt, and that's why I was zipping up my down vest even though may look a little strange. All the kids nodded in agreement; good idea. They couldn't talk because by now their mouths were full of the thick soft noodles and warm spaghetti sauce.

Lunch was awsome!  The sauce wasn't too wet, or too dry --it was just right. The pasta (a lot of the kids called 'em noodles) were perfectly cooked. I had a slice of garlic bread, a small side salad with Cesar dressing, and pineapple chucks for desert.  Nutritious, I'm sure, but also delicious. It really was.

Conversation at the table moved freely from the football game that would take place on the playground after lunch, to a detailed description of an F22 fighter jet model, to weekend sleepover plans and afternoon schedules.

The kids told each other when they had sauce on their chins. There were lots of slurping sounds, and laughs. It was great fun. And all too soon done.

Outside my son asked me to watch him in the football game, so I stood at the edge of the asphalt for a few minutes observing the running and jumping and hands waving in the air.  Then I looked at my watch, and I all had to come to an end. Until the next time. But it probably won't be spaghetti day.

(there is a P.S. to this blog-entry. talking on the phone tonight my son informed me that 3-minutes after i left he scored a touchdown, and again 7 minutes later. i told him i would include that in this post, and he told me he'd look for it.)