I generally consider myself to be a kind and mostly understanding woman. I give credit to my mom for that. But mom, sometimes I fail you and today was the day. Luckily, my daughter was there to set me straight. What a day.
My daughter had a dentist appointment this morning. I drive to another suburb for this particular dentist because they have safe and adequate anesthesia if needed (this is a health topic for another post). Anyway, we drive over there and arrive on time (Wendy 1: Busy Life 0). They have a great little play area in the waiting room and she is trying to play with this boy about her same age. He is throwing toys around the room and generally being unruly. He leaves for his appointment and I ask her to pick up the mess even though she didn’t make it. She does it and I’m seriously bursting with pride on my kind and gracious child (Wendy 2: Busy Life 0). She does awesome getting her teeth cleaned and has no cavities (I’ll call this a draw because that’s probably just some good luck – twice a day brushing of three year old teeth is not for the faint of heart). So we head out of the dentist Barbie toothbrush and stickers in hand. I decide that I am going to treat her to a Mom and me brunch date. On the way into the restaurant she looks at me and says “This is the best trip EVER!” (Wendy 3: Busy Life 0).
I get into line to order our food. 10 minutes goes by and I hear the lady at the register tell the people in front of me that “the kitchen is backed up” and they have to wait to put their orders in. Another 10 minutes goes by and my daughter is now sick of twirling in line and is starting to do the three year old jig. If you’ve had kids you know this can be torture. She has a bottle of water from the display which she almost dumps out at least three times. 15 minutes goes by and finally the ladies in front of me are allowed to order. At this point, I’m getting pretty irritated and have noticed that this place appears pretty new and everyone working seems generally confused and stressed out. I get to the register and they say they can’t take my order because the kitchen is behind. Okay, I get it, I watch restaurant rehab and I realize you are trying to make it look like the tickets aren’t taking so long, but I have now been in line with a three year old for 35 minutes and this is getting very painful. I give this lady a death stare. I am not proud of this stare, but my kid is about to lay down on the floor and timely whines, “Mommy, I’m hungry!” Finally she sees my dilemma and says she can take my order but can’t send the payment through because of the kitchen situation. This is beyond irritating but I’m trying to keep my cool because little eyes are watching. I want to leave so bad but my daughter has already opened the water, so much time has already been wasted, and now she is hungry. We go sit down and another 10 minutes goes by and I see that this place is in quiet chaos. I see the manager/owner come in and she’s trying to put out fires. The orders are slow, going to the wrong tables etc. Another ten minutes goes by – nearly an hour now and I’ve had it. I pull out my phone and start to write a not so flattering 2 star YELP review on this joint. Except I’ve never done a YELP review and the app keeps asking me additional questions before I can post my passive aggressive review. Suddenly my daughter says, “Wow, look at this big picture mommy!” I look over and while I have been disengaged and distracted with my own anger, she has taken a fork and etched a ‘drawing’ into the table.
(Wendy -5: Busy Life 10)
I was mortified and gasped and then she realized that she had wrecked the table and melted into a puddle of tears and apologies. I then felt even worse and everyone is now looking at us. So there it was. My moment of clarity. Was the hour spent there annoying? Most definitely. In hindsight, I wish I would have just used that time to chat with my daughter and make it an adventure. I wish I had used it as an opportunity to model behavior that I would be proud of in the future. But I didn’t, and instead I got a fine lesson in humility. I flagged down the owner and apologized, offered to pay for the repair and had my daughter apologize to her. The owner who was clearly having a difficult day was gracious and kind and I am grateful for that. Moments like these remind me that I will always be a work in progress and sometimes I have to remember to slow down. Little eyes are watching. Little ears are listening. Little hearts are learning. Let them see, hear, and experience the good things in life.
P.S. The food was actually pretty good and the crappy YELP review never posted.
