My son taught me more than I had taught him when we went out for milkshakes
Even with a lukewarm cup of coffee in my hand and bills stacked like a mountain on the kitchen table, my mind was spinning. Stress pulsed through every inch of me—rent was late, work was slow, and the fridge held more empty space than food. It felt like the world had tilted just enough to make everything feel unsteady. I sat there, elbows on the table, head in my hands, wondering how I was going to keep it all together for another week. Then I felt a small tug on my sleeve. “Milkshake?” my four-year-old son, Nolan, asked, eyes wide with hope. Just one word. A tiny question. But somehow, it cut through the noise in my head. I looked at him—his face sticky with breakfast syrup, his favorite superhero socks mismatched, one pant leg rolled higher than the other. He was pure light in a dim moment. And that single word, “milkshake,” felt like a lifeline. “Yeah, bud,” I said softly. “Let’s go.” We ended up at O’Malley’s Diner—a little hole-in-the-wall with peeling vinyl boot...