Cart to Heart

At the end of a long and busy school day, I came home to an empty house, except for Parker. He had his music playing and was doing his homework. I loaded the dishwasher, switched the laundry, made a phone call, and offered to start supper which he refused because he had just finished an entire pizza. I had not just finished an entire pizza, so I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich and sat down at the table by myself with a book.
Sigh. Relax my back. Take a bite. Remember to breathe. Unwind.
Parker bounced into the kitchen.
"You wanna come look at go-carts on the internet?"
I just stared and chewed my cud like a glassy-eyed mama cow. Looking at go-carts that I'm not going to buy seems like the most boring thing I can think of. And then he said....
"Or...just come down there with me. And sit by me. While I look at go-carts?"
I said yes.
He clicked from site to site, naming parts, explaining how to measure wheelbase, and converting kph to mph, while I listened to the squeaks in his changing voice and watched the light in his eyes. And in-between we talked about his classes and his best friend who moved away, and stories the neighborhood boys tell each other.
If I never see another go-cart in my life, I couldn't care less.
But spending time with my son...I will NEVER regret.