A Son's Pride

week ago, I wrote about renewing my custom of saying the afternoon prayer known as Mincha. I mentioned that I like it that my kids get to see me at prayer. I think that's a really good thing for them to see in their home.

The other day, I was davening the silent Amida prayer when the phone rang. Except for an extreme emergency, this prayer can't be interrupted for any reason. I could do nothing but ignore the repetitious ringing and hope that my son Asher, 11 years-old, who was in the next room at the time, would pick up the phone and take a message.

He came to see why I wasn't picking up the phone. I don't know what it is with kids. They never answer the phone. They can be sitting right next to the darned thing and won't pick up. That's MY job. *rolling eyes*

Anyway, Asher comes in the room and figures out by the way I'm standing and not paying attention to the phone that I am saying the silent Amida. So he picks up the phone. He says hello, listens, and then, I hear him say (in spite of my trying to concentrate on my prayers), "She can't come to the phone right now. She's davening (praying) Mincha."

It hit me: he was PROUD of me for davening mincha. Otherwise, he would have just said that I couldn't come to the phone. But he took the time to specify what it was that kept me otherwise occupied.

That was an unexpected validation of my intention to be more strict about davening Mincha: my child's pride in me for doing something good, something righteous.