A Tale of Three Dates

I took Deacon on a "date" on Saturday, Roman on Sunday and Lincoln today.  They got to pick the place that we ate and I tried to let them guide the conversation.

Deacon and I went to Target to get him some shoes (ones that he can just slip on) and some new clothes ("I am tired of other people picking out my clothes for me, I want to be able to make my own choices about what I wear").  After that successful trip (in which he declared "this is my best date ever!") , we went to Dairy Queen.

We sat for a long time as he ate his food and then his blizzard.  We talked about movies, music, Christianity, friends, sports, blizzard flavors.  He held up his end of the conversation and brought up new topics.  He ordered his own blizzard, even though he was a little nervous.

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Sunday Roman and I went to Culvers.  Roman informed me what he wanted to order, got his drink and picked out our table.  We talked about a variety of things, but it was mostly me bringing things up and him answering.  When he was done eating, he asked me what kind of ice cream that I wanted and without another word took both of our tickets up to the counter and came back with our ice cream.  He cleaned up the table and put the garbage away. 

We walked out to the Suburban.  I approached it and clicked the key, wondering why he headed to the other side.  I walked around the (first!) Suburban and saw him getting into our Suburban parked next door.  I laughed.  "How did you know that wasn't ours?"

"Silver stripe" was all he said.

"Were you just going to let me try to get into that car?"

Hint of a smile, "yeah".

(did he have fun?  I would never know.  He must have though, because he was quite disappointed that it was Lincoln's turn the next day...)

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Lincoln had a little smile on his face on our way to Wendy's for his date.  He seemed impressed that I actually got him a Kid's Meal (which is a rarity for us).  He didn't demand conversation, but was content to carefully eat his food in a certain way.  I asked him a couple of questions, but he mostly seemed happy enough just to be with me and  to practice reading everything he saw- "Mommy, what does A-S-I-A-G-O spell?"  He brought up a few things, some funny story he had heard and plans for summer vacation, but let's just say there were a lot fewer words spoken than when I was with Deacon.

They are all so different, but all so precious to me.  I can't wait to see what kind of men they will become!