Freebie

Tucker has been anxiously awaiting the day he would be able to go pull weeds. Not because the kid is a lover of gardening, but because it was going to be an opportunity to go work with another family, whom he adores. Chris Weis and Tucker had arranged quite some time ago for Tucker to come over to their home and help with some yard work. But schedules being schedules means that both families weren't able to make it happen until this past Saturday.

I asked Tucker how he felt about going on Saturday since all the Dubach family was together and he assured me that he wanted to go help Chris because, "It's important to help others, mom." And so, Chris and Jenna came to pick him up at 1:00 in the afternoon with a plan for us to collect Tuck at 4:00 for our pizza dinner before going to a local, live nativity.

Tucker was actually given a ride home and I was busy enough that I barely said hello before moving on with our activities. I asked him how his time had gone and he replied enthusiastically that it had been great, that a lot had been accomplished, and that they finished with enough time to play some wii. It wasn't until Sunday that I heard some of the details about Tucker's version of service.

Within a few minutes of beginning his task in the Weis's yard, Tucker was asking "How long are we going to be working?" Chris assured him that while there wasn't a lot to do, they certainly weren't finished yet.

Jenna came out to help and Tucker was quite concerned that she was adding to his workload by going over to the side passed the line Chris had determined would be their stopping point. No matter how Jenna assured Tucker that she was just completing work she had started on another day, he kept making certain that she knew that they did not need to pull the weeds "over there."

Shortly after this, he asked "Is this a paying job or a freebie?" Jenna let him know that this job was a freebie. Tucker nodded and went back to work. Later, when Chris was driving him home, Tucker again asked if this was a paying job or a freebie. Since Jenna and Chris had already shared some of Tucker's earlier comments with one another, Chris was completely prepared to answer: "Freebie."

Tucker's compromise? "Okay. Maybe you could just take me to Chick-fil-A sometime. That seems fair."

Sigh.