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I was eating lunch with a couple of my daughters and a few granddaughters, and as is her custom, one of my granddaughters ordered soup and a rice dish. It’s tough for a preschooler to eat those dishes without spilling a little, or a lot.

Maybe it’s because my daughters have all waited tables when they were in college. Or perhaps they remember my words when they were young and we visited a friend or ate in a restaurant. (“You leave a place looking better than when you got there.”) Nevertheless, my daughter Monique was soon picking grains of rice from the floor of the restaurant.

“Don’t tell me,” she said. “I know. I’m going to miss these days.”

“Well I don’t,” I said. If there’s anything I wish to pass on to my children, it’s not guilt.

“Monique,” I continued, “I miss when y’all were that age. I miss first words, first steps and first days of school. But I do not miss cleaning up spills, loads of laundry and interrupted sleep.

I don’t miss searching for school uniforms on Monday mornings, but I miss attending the sports events. I don’t miss preparing dinner every night, but I miss five children sitting around my table. And oh how I miss the conversations I’ve had over the years, just not when it was at 9 p.m. and it began with, ‘I have a current event report due tomorrow.’

“Endure the cleanup, enjoy the meal, and keep making memories that you will celebrate for the rest of your life.”

Ronny Michel can be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.