She's worth the bowl of mac and cheese...

She's worth the bowl of mac-and-cheese.

That's what he taught me last night.

It was already past bedtime, and we had chosen to grill out late. On a Sunday evening. School the next day.

Our oldest requested her absolute favorite side dish: macaroni and cheese, and I was anything BUT excited to make it. So, as any exhausted mama would do, I offered her a replacement “side”. Something easy; that didn't require much effort. Something just as up there on her favorite menu list; but nonetheless, not her top choice by any means.

I could tell I kinda crushed her, and as badly as I felt, the next day, and week ahead, was already tugging at my heels. Clothes to lay out. Lunches to pack. Schedules to review. So I went on cleaning up around the hurricane of scattered toys that had ravaged our yard.

As the only place to which my mind could go were the "I don'ts"...

I don't want to miss 10-15 minutes of this beautiful evening outside, being stuck inside over boiling water. . I don't want to have to wash a cheesy mess of crusty goodness later tonight.

I don't want her to get a bellyache, eating so much right before bedtime.

But him? Her daddy?

I "caught" him. In the kitchen. Water full-boil. Blue box top open on the counter. Microwave hood fan running strong.

Where the only place his mind went was to the "I do's".

The only place that his mind went was to make his "little girl" happy...

I do want her to have the mac-and-cheese. Because one day she won't need us so much.

I do want her to be happy. Because I love her so much.

I do want her to know she is worth it. She is worth every bit of the time it takes.

She's now well-over halfway to becoming an adult. With dozens of years ahead of her, and all the time in the world, to make her own mac-and-cheese. Countless moments when we will WISH with all our hearts that she would ask us to do something for her, that she will then be able to do herself.

But tonight, he wanted her to know that he would, and will, do absolutely anything in the world for her. Including sneaking inside, to make her a bowl of mac-and-cheese.

Such a beautiful, God-gifted lesson to learn on this almost-summer-eve.

We will not always be needed. We will not always be the ones "doing" for her.

But now... While she's still "little"... And before she's "too cool"...

During the most impressionable years of her life...

It's so incredibly important for her to know...

She is most definitely, one-hundred-million percent, worth the bowl of mac-and-cheese.

Each and every day of her life. Now, and yet to come.