But worthless is my sacrifice, I own it
Yet, Lord, for love’s sake Thou wilt not disown it
Thou wilt accept my gift in Thy great meekness
Nor shame my weakness
~O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken, LSB 439~

The boys and I took a field trip to Walgreens after school. I didn’t call it a field trip originally, but while we were there, we ran into an older lady from church. When I called out her name from in front of the cashier table, she was the one who said something like, “Hello! Field trip today, eh?” We haven’t done field trips in a while, but I liked the idea that maybe this is what our field trips look like now. The woman at the cash register said, “It’s nice to get out of the house every once in while, isn’t it?”, to which I agreed.

We were there to buy thank you notes and stickers. While folding laundry I’d had the impulse to go buy a rug for the living room. It didn’t take long before I decided not to do that. The thought that came after was the reminder that I’d been wanting to have the boys write thank-you notes from their birthdays, which is something my grandma once taught me to do. We picked out several different stationary sets, and found a pad of stickers that weren’t primarily pink and purple. I let them pick out a candy bar or bag of M&M’s or Skittles. I picked up some more vitamins.

I wanted a card for Dad as well. I’d been thinking about the parenting load these days, and how he’s been doing a lot of the heavy lifting over the past several years, especially with all the high school things. You can get so used to a husband or wife doing something quietly that you don’t even think to acknowledge or thank them for whatever it is that is making this life less formidable. One of the boys brought a birthday card to me. He said that except for the birthday part, everything this card says is true about Dad. I read it and agreed, blessed that he could know it too.