Priorities, My Son. Priorities.

So it's a lovely day outside & I decide to barbeque on the outside gas grill. I defrost the meat, get the 3-year old involved with painting some masterpieces, and the boy is doing his homework. I fire up the grill, put the chicken thighs over the fire, put the cover over the bbq, and start to relax...for all of 3 minutes. All of a sudden I see a LOT of smoke coming from the grill. Kids are still fine, but I'm curious about dinner. I open the grill cover & the ENTIRE grill is covered in flames. Apparently the meat was much fattier than I had anticipated.

I'm trying to decide 1) do I call the fire department or 2) deal with this myself, when I hear a small boy's voice say, "Mom, where's my Nintendo DS (video game)?" I say, "Mom's a little busy right now" as I make the decision to deal with this myself.

I close the cover, turn the gas off at the grill AND at the propane tank, and wait. Again, the boy says, "Mom, can you find my DS NOW?" His voice is a little angry and more insistent. I say, "Not now, honey." I'm trying to keep my cool. Thank God the 3-year old is completely engrossed in her Picasso moment.

All of a sudden, I see flames shooting from under the COVER of the grill. I'm getting even more freaked out. I open the cover, and figure that if I take the source of the fire away, it'll have to go down. So I methodically start taking the chicken off the grill. "Mom, can you PLEASE go get my DS?!" comes the voice. Now the kid is outside. He can see that Mommy is dabbling in firefighting. I'm not sitting with my feet up, popping bon-bons. "No!," I say, "Go get it yourself."

Finally, the flames die down. The chicken is not cooked, ironically, but I've definitely got the bbq flavor on it. The toddler has produced several fine works of art. And The Boy is MAD. "NOW can you find my DS?!" It's a demand. I take several deep breaths, go inside to find his DS, and ground him for at least a day.

The wailing of the child echoes throughout the neighborhood, as I calmly sit down. And thank God everything is fine.