Free Lunch

I have taken advantage of the free summer lunches for kids every now and then over the years, but this summer I'd say the kids have eaten free lunches as many days as not (or more).  We mostly went to the kids' school, but we also walked (or sometimes drove) to the high school near our house or other schools in the area for lunch, and often we were there with friends.

Playing on the playground with friends after the first free lunch of the summer.

One day my girls were playing with our neighbor's granddaughters and it was time to go to lunch.  I sent Cat and Eliza over to their house to invite the friends to come with us, and my neighbor walked over to find out about it.  "So, what's the deal with this 'free' lunch?" she asked, air quotes and all.

"It really is free.  It's a federal program."

"Okay, but it's not like they qualify for it," she said behind her hand, speaking out of the side of her mouth in a whispery tone, in order to avoid being recorded by the mic the FBI had placed on my person.

"It doesn't matter.  There isn't a way to verify who qualifies during the summer, so it's free for everyone."

She squinted her eyes and slowly nodded, in an I-don't-quite-get-it kind of way, but she let her granddaughters come to lunch anyway.

I've really appreciated the free summer lunches.  Not only has it saved us money and clean-up over the summer, but it's been great to have a reason to get out of the house on those days when we otherwise wouldn't.  There aren't as many schools offering lunches in July as there were in June, but I think we'll still try to get out and grab free lunch here and there.