Spoon Mom

“Here, Jedi, look at me!”

It was meant as a fun offer, from a mother to a son. I huffed on the concave side of the stainless steel, forming a nonslip surface, and applied the cold utensil against the tip of my nose. There was excitement in my voice as the spoon obeyed just as intended.

“How am I balancing the spoon on my nose, Jedi? Is it magic?”

I thought he’d be impressed, maybe he’d try to do the trick himself. It’s these simple moments between a mother and son that are most remembered. Once the beginning step was perfected, we could then proceed to the next level of difficulty; hanging multiple spoons all over our faces. It could be like a game. We could be a traveling freak show family of dangling forehead kitchen utensils. The dreams, they were aplenty.

“Isn’t this cool?”, I asked heartily, the spoon still resting on the ledge of my nose.

Instead, he rolled his eyes and crushed my dreams.

“Stop it, Mom”, he urged, completely deadpan.

Says the kid who finds anything fart-related hilarious. Yes, it’s these simple moments between a son rolling his eyes at his mother who’s trying too hard with a cold spoon dangling from the tip of her nose that I’ll cherish for always. It really is magic, I say.