Poor Meatball

Today I woke up with the 'Meatball' song in my head, you know the one.."On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed."
This song always reminds me of Hayden. One day I was singing it over and over while I was cleaning the house. Hayden was about 6. He came up to me and said "mom, will you please stop singing that song!" I asked him why. He replied "because it just so sad, someone losing their poor meatball like that." I laughed and told him that it was a funny song, not sad, then I started singing it again to show him it was just for fun. He looked up at me with a serious look on his face and then raised his little voice to me,"STOP SINGING IT. IT IS SAD. IT MAKES ME SAD! POOR MEATBALL, poor PERSON whose meatball is ROllING AWAY! Don't sing it EVER again, I never want to hear it again!"
I knew he liked his meatballs, but I guess I had underestimated his feelings for them.
A few months later Kevin started singing it in the car on our way home from somewhere. I had told Kevin the funny story about Hayden not liking the song right after it happened, I looked over at him and I knew he was singing it on purpose to see if Hayden would still react the same way.
Sure enough, Hayden from the back seat yells "DAD stop singing that SAD song!"
9 years later Hayden's favorite food is meatball subs. I imagine meatballs rolling away are still no laughing matter to him. When he comes home from school today maybe I should be singing a new version of the song just to see what happens.
'Inside of my sandwich all covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball when too hard I squeezed....'

Shame on me, I don't really want to see a teenage boy cry.
Appreciate those meatballs, you never know when the poor things might roll away.