A three or four year-old little boy who was a couple of rows in front of me in church yesterday apparently got uncomfortable in the tie he was wearing, so he took it off. It wasn't a tie-tie, or a clip-on tie. In fact, I've never seen this kind of tie before, but it looked like it came "pre-tied" and it fastened around the back of his neck, much like a necklace would.
So, he got it off, then he must have decided that he better put it back on. His dad finally caught on and helped him put his tie back where it belonged. As soon as I saw his dad helping him, I had a flashback to a bowling alley some thirty plus years earlier. My dad had taken me bowling--I was probably seven or eight--and I still hadn't learned how to tie my shoes.
I remember plopping one of my feet up on his lap so he could tie my bowling shoes for me. He did so, but then he told me that it was time that I learned how to do it myself. He showed me how to make two bunny ears and then how to wrap one ear around the other and then how to tuck one under the other to complete the tie. I was pretty stoked to finally know how to tie my own shoes.
I love moments like the one I experienced in church yesterday that prompt me to remember things I haven't thought about in ions. It's like getting a precious gift--one that can't be returned, and nobody in his right mind would want to.
