Ephram and the Granola Bars

Ephram loves to organize things for me.

He also loves containers of all kinds.

And he loves food.

Especially snack foods.

Like granola bars.

So I shouldn't have been surprised,

After a February Costco trip,

During which he excitedly pleaded with me to purchase a huge box of Quaker granola bars,

That he had plans for it.

This is how I found him the next morning.

He had retrieved a stash of paper lunch sacks,

Torn open the box of granola bars,

And was carefully dividing the brown wrapper peanut butter yuckies

From the red wrapper chocolate chip yummies.

(Charlie and I split the peanut butter ones, which Ephram avoids by color.)

He was so proud of himself.

My initial gut reaction might have been

"uuuuuuuuuuuggggh, what a mess."

But once I saw this face,

I just didn't care.

Once he was finished, he grabbed a bag of reds and took it to the table.

And ate three yummies in succession.

Then he took three brown wrappers and put one each at his Mama's, Dada's and Cha-ee's places.

Such a sharer and a helper, this one.

And I took this pile

And put as many lunch sacks as would fit back inside the box

And the rest found a place in the pantry.

Now these sacks are long gone,

But they were a fun game for about a month.

We ate the granola bars out of them until the end

And Ephram kept rearranging them as they dwindled.

There's something quaint and special about these granola bars,

And the little boy that gave them their brown paper homes.

I don't want to forget it.