Once upon a time
On a beautiful summer day,
One of my kids –
Who shall remain nameless –
Made some Easy Mac.

Easy.
Because it required only 4 steps:

1. REMOVE lid
2. ADD water to fill line in cup. STIR.
3. MICROWAVE uncovered for 3 ½ minutes.
4. STIR in cheese sauce mix.

Easy.
Because the kids
Could make it
All by themselves.
Which was invaluable
During the summer
With all of them home,
And with all of them
Eating food.
All
day
long.
Day after day.

So on this
Particular summer day
My child,
Whom I love,
Made some Easy Mac
For a snack
Or maybe it was a meal –
They all blur together
In the summer.
And after starting the microwave,
Happily went outside to play
For 3 ½ minutes,
Until it was ready.

And sometime before
Those minutes were up,
Those of us
Who were still in the kitchen,
Noticed a smell:
Like melted plastic.

So someone
Opened the microwave
And a black cloud of smoke
Escaped with the smell
Searing our nostrils.

And then chaos ensued.
The smoke detectors
Blared their warning beeps
As someone grabbed a hand towel
And flinging it into the air
Tried to fan
The smoke and the stench
Outside,
Through the kitchen door
That someone else had opened
Despite the fact
That we were letting
All of the air-conditioned air
Outside.
Electricity bills
Didn’t matter anymore
In that moment.

After the smoke detectors fell silent,
And the cloud of smoke
Had mostly dissipated
(And we had lost our senses
Of smell and hearing),
We looked inside the microwave.

Perched on the glass turntable
Sat the lopsided remains
Of the Easy Mac cup.
One side had caved in.
Letters melted into each other.

And we realized
My child
Had skipped Step #2
Entirely.
My child
Whom I love,
Had forgotten
To add water.

Upon closer inspection,
The bottom of the cup
Had completely melted
Into the clump
Of what was once
Uncooked macaroni.
And it was all black
And smoldering.

And did I already
Mention the smell?
I can confidently
And definitively
File the smell under:
Things I Never Wanted to Learn.

Because not only
Did the malodorous scent
Linger in our house
FOR DAYS…
The microwave itself
Smelled like melted plastic.
For weeks.
Maybe months.
They all blur together
Sometimes.

And can you guess
How many times
After that beautiful summer day,
Everyone in our family
Was reminded
To add water
Before making Easy Mac?

Several.
Repeatedly.
And probably excessively.

And you can also
Probably guess
How times it happened again;
Where anyone in our house
Forgot to add water
To their Easy Mac
After that incident.

None.
Zero.
Zip.

Even to this day.

And I have been
Reflecting on this incident.

One, because it’s summer.

And two,
Because sometimes
It’s exactly these kinds
Of experiences –
Of doing it wrong –
That are so impactful
And so memorable
And so powerful.
Because they are hard to forget.
Maybe impossible.
And they remind us
That we may want
To choose differently
Next time we do something.
Like an oversized Post-it note
On the microwave
That says,
“DON’T FORGET TO ADD WATER!”

Sometimes the lessons
Come from
Doing it wrong
AKA Failing (read more about that here)
AKA learning from experience –

Sometimes those lessons
Linger.

Like the smell
Of melted plastic
Mixed with noodles.

And sometimes
The lessons take longer
Than 3 ½ minutes.
But that’s ok.

Because God is patient.
Even if we do it again.
Even if we do it wrong.
Several times.
Repeatedly.
Even excessively.

And the beautiful truth
Is that God also
Forgives us
And encourages us
To try again.
Several times.
Repeatedly.
And even excessively.

It’s a truth
That will endure
Forever.

Which means it will last
Even longer
Than the smell
Of melted plastic
Mixed with noodles.