Vegetables

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

—Galatians 5:1

My friend Ginger came over the other day, and I was making lunch for Henry and her daughter, Samantha. I gave them each Dino Bites and organic fruit leather, and I was trying to find something vegetable for them. I was looking in the freezer and in the pantry. Ginger was coaching me, “Maybe some peas? Or little baby carrots?” Finally Ginger said, “You know what? Even if you put them on her plate, she won’t eat them. I don’t actually give her a vegetable every single day at lunch.” And I said, “Me neither! Me neither! I do it at dinner, I swear, but I don’t always give him a vegetable at lunch.” You would have thought in that moment that we were confessing our deepest, darkest secrets to one another.

I’ve known Ginger since I was thirteen. We were in each other’s weddings. She knows all the things I did in high school that my parents still don’t know about. Why were we faking each other out about vegetables for two-year-olds? Because we both believed, in that moment, that moms should be perfect. That somehow everyone else is able to pull it off, even if we can’t. But that’s a lie, and it was a relief to break free of it.