I'm fortunate to have great friends that offer support during my "single dad" times. I received lots of love this week.
Typically, when Lindsi is out of town, our diets turn to pizza and soda (beer for daddy). This trip was no exception. So tonight, on our last night without mom (Lindsi comes home later tonight), the boys requested Mama's Pizza...again.
So, we made a deal. If the boys would clean up the messy house while I took a quick shower, we would go to Mama's.
The boys held up their end of the deal, and we were off.
When we got there we soon realized that it was really crowded and crawling with older kids. I was a little concerned about my little guys, as several older boys were running amuck unsupervised. They were loud and obnoxious.
I got our food ordered and headed to the table.
Griffin was eager to play the "clean sweep" game, but the older boys had taken it over. Griffin stood patiently in line,waiting his turn. The boys were aggressive and rude, and skipped Griffin in line. I walked over to the machine and let the kids know that Griffin was next in line. I think that they were a little surprised that I intervened. I could feel my mood shifting as I was ready to confront the parents of the kids if they continued to monopolize the game and ignore others that were waiting.
We headed back to the table, and then, something awesome happened. One of the older boys walked over to our table and handed Griffin a toy from the machine. We thanked him profusely. I wanted to give him a few extra quarters to play he game with, and Griffin wanted to deliver them. The boy politely declined. About that time, one of our two pizzas arrived. It happened to be mine. We waited a few minutes and then I went to inquire about the other pizza. Apparently, the order taker failed to get the cheese pizza on the ticket. The manager came out, apologized, and said he'd have a new pizza out for us soon. I offered to pay for the new pizza, but, he refused. We ate our pizzas, griffin played the game a few more times, and, we headed for the door. We stopped to get a few items out of the quarter machines, and, as the kids were choosing their toys, another older girl came up to Griffin and handed him another stuffed animal. Unbelievable.
What started as me being frustrated by rude kids ended with me having new found faith in a younger generation. A great way to end the day.
