Snack Time

The girls recently finished a fun filled week of VBS. Every day, on the ride home, I would ask Emme what her favorite part of the day was. Hoping above all hopes, that she would tell me about what Bible story impacted her little life, or which scripture she had hidden in her heart.

“Snack time.”

Day after day, she would go into great and glorious detail about her snack. Which usually included highly nutritional marshmallows, chocolate kisses, gummy bears, and the occasional pretzel. Oh. And the frosting. Snack time is never complete without the frosting.

Brain food.

Cailey didn’t care so much for snack time, as she was usually relegated to a separate area with the other peanut allergy kids, to be force fed a diet of the dreaded banana and animal crackers.

In other words, she endured torture at VBS. And suffered snack envy, as Emme would go into the daily detail of her high caloric intake.

Heartbreaking.

On the way home after the last day, I looked into the rear view mirror at an unusually pensive Emme, who was staring out the window. Silent.

“Well, how was snack time?”

“Um. Not so good.”

Cailey’s ears perked up.

“What did you eat?”

“Cupcakes.”

Odd. How can you go wrong with the delicious goodness of Betty Crocker cupcakes? “How were they?”

“Well,” long pause, “I couldn’t finish it because some kid threw up his cupcake next to me. And it splattered on my shoes.” She swallowed hard. And shuddered. “I had to go to the bathroom and wash my shoes off. I don’t want to talk about it, anymore.” She turned back toward the window.

Cailey suddenly sprung to life, pelting her sister with inquiries about the vomit in question. Quizzing her about the color, consistency, and amount. When Emme could not summon the strength to answer, Cailey filled in her own blanks with her vivid imagination. Out loud.

After a few moments, the back seat became quiet. And I heard the familiar “rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” as two windows were rolled down. I looked into the rear view mirror again, and I saw that two daughters sat on either side of the backseat. Like green bookends. Looking out of each of their respective windows. Breathing deeply.

Smugly, I enjoyed a little peace and quiet for the remainder of the drive home. Pondering the affect this would have on their respective sugar addictions.

I think I might suggest that next year, VBS Snack Time include a Pepto Bismol chaser. And Craft Time should most definitely involve a paper bag.