TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
Geoff Fox:
Since 2002, Geoff Fox has written about the offbeat and dynamic personalities that make Pasco County unique. He is now revisiting them, meeting new characters and sharing more stories. Email
Pasco Links:
Latest blog posts:
Most Recent Entries
- Stripped Fasano unbowed by ‘schoolyard bully’
- Limbaugh pokes Weatherford; “desperate,” says Will
- We’d think this was just nutty ...
- Obama rejects Keystone pipeline
- Fasano’s end game: No more NFL in Florida
- The silence of the NLRB
- Former Air Force Colonel Wants to Challenge Castor
- Another lefty talking point bites the dust
- On Rubio, Washington Post earns three Pinnochios
- Steve Jobs’ David Mamet moment (whiffed)
- Dopiness of Occupy Wall Street revealed, er, confirmed
- Curious case of the curious little blue heron
- Democrats: Nugent won’t spend other people’s money (waa!)
- Obama’s unintended argument for an ‘ownership society’
- Who’s next to demand nuptial rights?
More
- Highlands: Ms. Cuisine
- Town 'N Country
- Brandon
- Highlands County
- In The Loop
- Northeast Now
- Northwest
- Pasco Personalities With Geoff Fox
- Plant City
- Carrollwood
- South Shore
- Temple Terrace
- The Jax Files - With Tom Jackson in Pasco
- The Sun
- South Tampa
Monthly Archives
|
| Local News | Photos |
Dads’ Day Lunch Was A Life-Affirming Good Time
Posted Oct 9, 2009 by Geoff Fox
Updated Oct 9, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Kids can get cream-filled Popsicles with their school lunch these days.
Meatballs are now on the menu, as well.
Things have changed since the ‘80s, when the choices were rectangular pieces of pizza that might have been good if they were tasteless, fried burritos and limp french fries.
At my kids’ Pasco County school this week was a semi-regular event called Dads’ Day Lunch, where dads are encouraged to observe and interact with their offspring during part of their daily routine. (That also did not happen in the lunchrooms of my youth.)
Although my kids take their lunch to school (their mother is so thrifty, I sometimes think she can shape-shift into her dream man, financial guru Clark Howard), but I was able to see what the other kids ate.
The Popsicles, and small-but-realistic-looking meatballs, weren’t the only things that looked good. I saw sliced-turkey sandwiches, lots of fresh-looking produce, tuna and whole-grain pizza, among other items that could be washed down with 100 percent fruit juice.
Observing all that was just part of the fun.
Today, I got to sit with my third-grader, The Adman, who elected to eat at the “parents’ table” rather than with his buddies. I’d like to think it was more because he wanted to talk to me, not hide me. Unlike his dad, The Adman is a gregarious little fellow who delivered at least one high five to a passing kid and pointed out his friends I hadn’t met yet.
Since his class doesn’t eat until after 1 p.m., the cleaning crew was folding up tables and mopping around everyone throughout the 30-minute period, but all their racket was a whisper compared to the nightclub-level decibels I experienced the day before, when I joined Two Rocks, The Adman’s older brother, for his 11:40 a.m. feeding.
A fifth-grader, Two Rocks is one to absorb his environment silently. He’s not exactly anti-social, but he doesn’t seem to like crowds any more than his old man.
On a bench outside, we talked about raccoons and movies (he wants to see “Public Enemy” with James Cagney) and other stuff.
At the end of his lunch period we walked back inside, where his class was lined up to go to the playground. In front of his friends, Two Rocks pointed to a minute bug on the “Hello, My Name Is Geoff Fox” sticker on my shirt.
I looked down just as he squashed it with the tip of his index finger, smearing a brown diagonal line across the name tag.
Beside Two Rocks, his friends laughed. I could hear them even as they walked outside.
The boy wore a smile as he waved good-bye.
Dads’ Day Lunch provided the best 60 minutes I’d spent all week.
Post a comment
Members:(Requires free registration.)
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2010 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
Reader Comments
Por (Olive) on October 09, 2009 (Suggest removal)
Aw, that’s nice! And I remember that pizza they used to have, lol!
Suggest removal