The Case of the Disappearing Frying Pan

I am a person of ritual.  Every single morning I make myself eggs.  First I put on the tea kettle to boil, then I place the frying pan on the other burner - in that order.  You can imagine my surprise when I open up the cupboard to grab the pan and lo-and-behold, it is not there.  This pan never goes in the dishwasher.   So if it's not in the cupboard, it's usually on the side of the sink drying or in the sink still dirty.  I was flummoxed.  How am I supposed to continue my morning routine without my pan?  I had to break down and use a different pan just this once in order to eat my eggs on time.  I was just going to have to accept this mystery.  It would hound me the rest of the day.

I looked in every conceivable spot for the elusive pan.  The only place I didn't check was the trash can.  Chuck just took the trash out to the dumpster this morning and I wasn't really excited about digging through the dumpster in the cold.  I'd save that as a fun family activity this evening if the pan was still AWOL.

Then came my favorite time of day...the kids coming home from school.  We talked about our days, had a snack and they went off to do homework.  Then it dawned on me...one of my favorite people was probably the culprit.  One of them had to know where my missing pan was.  So I stood in the kitchen and yelled to all the 'innocent until proven guilty' parties, "Who knows where my frying pan went?"  I knew that would be the fastest way to draw out the guilty party.

Bennett comes slinking out of his room with a huge grin on his face.  "What in the world is there to smile about, Mister?  I am missing my favorite frying pan and here you are smiling.  Do you realize I had to use a different pan to cook my egg on this morning? What did you do with it?"  His smile just got wider and wider as I bulleted him with questions.

"Well... I kinda forgot where it went so I just put it here...."

...and he leads me to our utensil drawer!  "Since I couldn't remember where the pans went, I thought this would be a fun place to put it."

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the Frying Pan Stealer.  Don't trust him with your pans people.

Cuddling

Since the kids have been very young, they've always done the after dinner chores.  One of them sweeps, one does the dishes and the other clears the table and dries dishes all while babbling incessantly or listening to loud music or making weird, loud noises.  It's how they roll.  During this nightly ritual, Chuck and I wander off to our bedroom or the study or the family room and have some much needed time together catching up on our days.  Often times the kids find us cuddling.  I guess we talk better when we cuddle.

So the other day, we're in position on the floor talking when Bennett comes wandering downstairs smiling at us.  You always have to wonder what Bennett is up to when he's smiling at you.  He comes, stands over us and says, "You guys are going to make a cute old couple."

No explanation, no expounding on his thinking process, no nothing.  We're left wondering if he thinks we're old now.  Or maybe he saw us 30 years down the road lying on the floor because we both fell and couldn't get up.  Why doesn't he think we're a cute young couple?  Does cuddling make us cute or is lying on the floor cute?  Unfortunately, we'll never know.

But cuddling is definitely a huge part of our love language around here.  Bennett still cuddles me whenever he gets the chance.  Chloe loves to snuggle up close all the time.  And Chuck, well, he's a world class cuddler.  I'm glad Bennett thinks laying on the floor cuddling the one you love is normal (at any age)...because it sure is around here.