Small Victory

We've had an ongoing problem of children complaining about dinner.  Several years back, I put my foot down and insisted that those who complained could go and sit in their rooms and complain there instead.  I'm certainly not consistent about it and all consequences were lost when I became sickly pregnant over the summer. 
Recently, the kids were complaining about how much they hated the dinner I was making.  I remarked that they had never tasted it before, since it was a new recipe I was trying, so how could they know they hated it?  They responded that they had tried it at a friends house and knew they didn't like it.  I responded that it was highly unlikely that we had the exact same recipe and they should give it a try.
When the complaining continued at the dinner table (before anyone had even tried the meal), I repeated the words many parents before me have uttered.
"Someday, when you move out of the house, you are going to miss my meals so much and you will just wish you could have them."
The kids looked at me like I was crazy, but I told them that the same thing had happened for me with my mom, and I missed her cooking like crazy when I moved out.
I figured they would probably eat their words in about a decade or longer, and I would have to wait until then.
But a couple days ago, on a day that Noah and I were getting along lovely, mostly because I decided to quiet my inner control freak, Noah said to me, "Mom, you know when you said someday I would miss your cooking?"
"Yes," I responded, wondering where he was going with this.
"Well, when I was at Clear Creek (an overnight campout with the 5th grade), we had hamburgers and stuff a lot."
"And . . ." I prompted.
"I kinda knew what you were talking about," he said.
I hugged that boy close and thanked him.
What a humble moment for him to tell me that!  Noah at times has been the pickiest, even though he is the oldest, although he has improved remarkably over the past few years.  I am so proud of him for being humble enough to share that thought with me.