Breakfast in bed

I've never been a big breakfast in bed person. First of all, it's really tough to use a fork and knife on a rickety tray balancing on a soft, bouncy mattress. Second, odds are your juice will spill, and orange juice is my favourite part of breakfast. Third, you can never keep crumbs from getting lost in the sheets, which means changing the bed, doing a load of laundry, and making the bed again.

So for birthdays and special occasions, I've always requested my special breakfast be served at the table.

This past Father's Day, however, I had an awakening. James always makes breakfast in our house (and does a FANTASTIC job - I don't think he ever serves cold cereal, which is what I set out if he happens to be gone early. It's always pancakes or eggs and toast or the like.) but on Father's Day of course I step up to the plate. Eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, pineapple, juice, all served up on a breakfast tray. The boys and I took it all upstairs, set it down, and then we came back downstairs to eat our own food, at the kitchen table.

As I backed all the kids out of the room and left James sitting alone in bed to eat breakfast, that's when it hit me. Breakfast all by himself, with no toddler on your lap eating every other bite, and not having to get up every 5 seconds to get something more for the other kids, and not mopping up spilled water... yes, as I left him alone in that bed with his breakfast, I suddenly realized I had been missing out for all these years.

I have since requested breakfast in bed for my birthday.