The First 10 Minutes

During the week, there's a lot to get done in the morning.

My kids , for whatever reason, do not enjoy their lunches ( I guess really just their sandwiches) when I make them the night before. 

It's a small sacrifice of my time to make them in the morning.  I'd rather do that then have them throw it away when they get to school. 

In the hustle and bustle of the morning, there's a little ritual my son and I have that really starts my day off on a great note. 

We always watch the first 10 minutes of "The Today Show" together. 

He's usually eating his breakfast around that time, so whoever makes it downstairs first in the morning, puts the TV on NBC and should one of us be running late, we pause the TV at 6:59. 

We have a contest to see who can guess what the top story is, lately the sure bet has been anything to do with politics.  There are some mornings we're so sure we're right only to find out that something has happened overnight that we had no idea about.

I'm not someone who really follows the news too much.  Some days that 10 minutes is the only news I see all day, but I feel like some top stories and local weather are all I need to make it through the day.  I also have the benefit of being on Facebook enough, that if something big happens, I usually find out about it.

I love the little discussions we get into about the news.  We both really miss Meredith Viera, and we both agree that every morning we still wish they would announce her name.

There are some news stories that are tough to talk about.  The recent news of an American troop going on a killing spree was confusing to my son, but it really made him think about how much pressure our troops are under. 

There's one particular story that my son brings up a lot.  When we first started this ritual, there was a boy named Kyron Horman who disappeared.  Every morning , we anxiously hoped that the top story would be that he was found.  As time went on, my son was concerned that Kyron had stopped being a top story.  Weeks turned into months and now over a year has passed. 

My son still asks about him from time to time, we occasionally look on Google to see if there's any new information.  Sadly, there isn't, it's so hard to try and explain to any kid, how this could be possible.  I am grateful for the opportunity it gives my son and I to talk about how this makes him feel and how he can stay safe, but I still get a lump in my throat every single time.

After the first 10 minutes, he's off to brush his teeth, get his shoes on, grab his backpack and he's out the door. 

I don't know how long we'll have this, but I will always be grateful for 10 minutes where it's just me and him.