I made it a goal to have a one-on-one mom date with each child before I leave for trek next week so today I went with Ev to Applebee's. It was lots of fun and Ev and I had a great conversation with Ev--she is most excited this summer to go to Suzuki camp next week and stay with Aunt K (She said nothing about Uncle S) but ADORES the baby. She is also excited to stay with Grandma L sometime this summer. I can afford to do mom dates because the kids get to choose a destination for which I have a free coupon from school: Cold Stone, Burger King, Pizza Hut, or Applebees. We walked into Applebees and were promptly led through the half-empty restaurant to a table right next to the bar. Am I the only one who thinks this was a "bright" idea? Why would you seat a kid in the bar section? The other funny thing was that the employee who led us there was obviously pregnant. And blonde. For real, and normally I wouldn't notice, but the baby is obviously taking whatever is left of her brain! Here's hoping she gets some brain back when it comes time to raise the baby. I politely asked if we could have a seat at a booth. Our waitress was pretty nice--she was a multi-tasker. She would call out to table one for their appetizer order while carrying drinks to table three and dropping a receipt at table two. I guess table one was just supposed to shout out their orders as she walked by and then not be surprised at her interrupting them to ask table three if they needed anything else. We were at table two. It should come as no surprise to anyone (except I was a little surprised) when they seated a couple at table 1 (the bar is now empty) who promptly had to have the manager "id" them before they served them their alcoholic beverages. Normally I would have not noticed or cared, but after they tried to seat my 11-year-old daughter in the bar I found it ironic.
After lunch we ran to Wal-Mart to grab some bread and kitty litter. Great grocery list, huh? This is because yesterday I went shopping with all four kids. 'Nuff said. As we pulled into the parking lot today there was a little boy, all alone, crying, half running and half walking around the parking lot. Obviously lost. So I told Ev to get out of the car and get him and take him inside until I could park and get there. By the time Ev got to him he was on his way inside and she helped direct him to an employee so they could help him. They paged his parents THREE times and no one came. I mentioned to one customer service employee (out of earshot of the boy) how he was initially found and then went to pay for my stuff. We bought the poor boy (he was about 7) some M&M's and then went home. I was thinking about it on the way to my car and it kind of made me mad! I mean who loses a 7-year-old boy in Wal-Mart or the parking lot?!! I even said at this point to Ev that they should just call the police.
Then I remembered that when I was a little girl we left Uncle K at a random gas station on a road trip once. And I remembered my shopping excursion yesterday and then my attitude changed. I pictured a harried mother in the first week of summer with all her kids in the store doing whatever it is that kids do in the store: running not walking, yelling not talking, teasing, begging, whining, hiding, begging, touching EVERYTHING, "helping" their siblings,... Then I pictured this poor mother in the frame of mind as I get in these situations. Must. Get. Out. Of. Store..... NOW! I can picture her at the checkout counter and all the kids are asking for all the stuff they try to sell there to drive mothers crazy and then one of them asking if he can have a drink and her just saying, "Yes! Everyone get a drink while I pay for this!" And then one wanders off or goes to the restroom and then she's done and getting everything together and then hurrying them all to the car and getting them all buckled in and then putting the cart back and then trying to ignore the cacophony of "I wanted candy....He's touching me... She looked out my window.... He's not buckled..." You know--when they each make enough noise for three separate individuals. And really, in a situation like that who WOULD miss one? And then maybe she went home and tried to convince people to help her unload and then all but one or possibly two disappeared. Surely I can't be the only one who has magically disappearing children. Imagine her surprise and concern and shock 20 minutes later when she tries to remind one to clean his room only to discover he is missing....
Now I wish I had wasted more time in Wal-Mart. I probably missed meeting a kindred spirit mother... At least I hope so. At least it's a much nicer story this way than some other scenarios.
1 comment:
My mom forgot my sister at the library once when we were little (shes #5 of 6 rowdies) When we went back to get her we had to wait for the police to come. She was trying to explain that she had been distracted and the police officer asked her if she had a blue van. She replied yes and he said he understood. He had walked past the rest of us, creating a horrible ruckus in the parking lot.
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