Thinking Inside the Box

It was Gabrielle who came up with the concept, actually. She was hanging out in my office during some sort of interval in the Blood Drive, and picked up the latest pictures of Sam: the one in the new hat, the one in the highchair with the spaghetti face, and the one of him peeking out of the carseat box.
. . . .
We got to talking, the way moms do (even though her youngest is 7 or 8 [shame on me for not knowing exactly, especially when my blog links to Emma's website] and my youngest is 28), about how different our lives would be if we'd not had children. We talked about the trips we would have taken, money we'd have had to spend and the magnificent appliances we'd have bought (and never used because we'd go out to dinner every night). Then it hit us: We wouldn't know what to do with the empty box that the new refrigerator came in! If we didn't have kids, we'd have no idea whatsoever! We reminisced about the boxes we'd acquired and the uses our kids had had for them and agreed that they were the best playthings ever (take that Fisher Price!).
. . . .
And then she said it. "Those people who came up with the concept of 'thinking outside the box' got it all wrong. It's thinking -- and being -- inside the box that matters!" And for a moment or two, both of us were about six again.