By Kai started pre-K this week. I want to write about that here because it is real and it happened and the world does not stop being full of ordinary good things just because there is something hard going on alongside them. Both things are true at the same time. That is what adult life is: both things at the same time, always, and your job is to be present for both.
He wore a new backpack — dark blue, with a small compass printed on the pocket, which Hannah picked because she thought he would like the navigational implications and she was right, he immediately told her it was for finding the way. He walked into his pre-K classroom with his shoulders back and his head up, the way he walks into everything new: with the expectation that the new thing will be interesting, because so far every new thing has been interesting and there is no evidence to contradict this. I hope he keeps that for a long time. I hope the world does not sand it down too fast.
I packed bean bread in his lunch again, same as the first day of preschool last year. He did not ask for anything different. The bean bread is ordinary to him now, the way I wanted it to be. He might not know yet that it is specifically Cherokee, that it comes from a tradition that is older than the school he is walking into, that every time he pulls it out of his lunchbox he is carrying something forward without knowing he is carrying it. He will know eventually. For now: he eats it and it is ordinary and that is enough.
The Caleb situation sits in the background of everything. It does not stop life from moving forward. It just runs alongside it, a second track, a second sound in the house that is always there underneath the regular sounds. I am managing it the way I manage the long pipeline weeks: one day at a time, the task in front of me, the next task after that. Caleb's court date is in five weeks. I will be there. That is the next thing.
The bean bread is Kai’s, and it belongs to him in ways that go deeper than I can fully put into words right now. But on the days I make a second thing to tuck alongside it — something small, something sweet, something he can grab with one hand while he talks to a new friend — I make these granola bites. They take almost no time. They ask nothing hard of me. And when everything else has a second sound running underneath it, that simplicity is exactly what I need the lunchbox to offer.
No-Bake Granola Bites
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes + 30 minutes chilling | Servings: 18 bites
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup ground flaxseed
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds or chopped nuts of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
Instructions
- Combine. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and salt until evenly mixed.
- Add wet ingredients. Add the honey, peanut butter, and vanilla extract to the bowl. Stir well until all the dry ingredients are fully coated and the mixture holds together when pressed.
- Fold in chocolate chips. Gently fold in the mini chocolate chips so they’re distributed throughout without melting.
- Chill. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This firms the mixture and makes it much easier to roll.
- Roll into bites. Scoop out about 1 tablespoon of mixture at a time and roll firmly between your palms to form a compact ball roughly 1 inch in diameter. If the mixture crumbles, press it together more firmly or return to the fridge for 10 more minutes.
- Store. Arrange finished bites in a single layer in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to one week, or freeze for up to three months.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 118 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 45mg