Hallmark Holiday
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Mother's Day has passed again. I do truly believe that Hallmark has honed in on this holiday and transformed it into something it was never meant to be. That being said, a little recognition never hurts...unless you belong to MY family. And then it means that the recognition is there, but the problem lays with the execution.
PART ONE:
The Plan: Take my mom to breakfast. A unique and delicious place. Quiet. Good service. Engage in fun and interesting conversation.
The Execution: Go to Rooster who, when we call, does not take reservations but are currently "dead." By the time we get there, they are "packed" and there is a 30 minute wait that takes 50 minutes. Add into picture disgruntled, hungry 13-year old and cold, hungry 6-year old and unsatisfied, hungry, wiggly 1-year old. Once seated, eat adult has to take turns walking Neviyah around restaurant so that she doesn't "scream bloody murder." Chandler gets wrong food item, doesn't tell us, eats a few bites and is starved. Alia's food doesn't come out until we are all almost done eating and Nevi is at zero tolerance for being there even one more second. My mom's food is missing the extra "$0.75" item. No conversation is able to take place. We don't get home until 1:00 p.m. (and we left before 9:00 a.m.!).
PART TWO:
The Plan: Relaxing swim and workout.
The Execution: The family locker room is squashy and creepy. As my daughter is changing, an old man is wandering around in there until his caretaker finds him, strips him and puts him in the shower. The doors to the showers are clear. This is NOT the locker room for my family. Swimming is fun except for the realization that people in the J Cafe are watching us. This bumps up the creep factor by 2. After, I go to workout but I am so hyper aware of time (and Rob at the pool with both the younger ones) that I rush around and stress myself out. Some guy keeps getting on each piece of equipment I want. It is really irritating. I find I can only do 6 crunches on the damn crunch machine. Hello? Afterwards, my blood sugar is crazy-low and I am shaking. And unable to cope.
PART THREE:
The Plan: Eat. Quickly. Dewey's.
The Execution: 40-minute wait. We wander around until we find another pizza joint. Their pizza is salty and the toppings are not good. Neviyah is so tired she can barely function so instead of going to sleep, she become super-hyper-baby-girl in an effort to stay awake. We couldn't get out of that restaurant soon enough.
So, there you have it. In a way, I got what I wanted--to spend the day with my family. At the end of the night, reflecting involved attempting to de-stress and trying to stop my brain long enough to fall asleep. As a family, we do just fine spending the day together. When we do this because it is a "special day" is when it seems to fall apart for us. The pressure is too much! Still, I enjoyed being with them and since I am able to say I have a family who is healthy and caring, I guess I really don't have much to complain about. :)
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Mother's Day has passed again. I do truly believe that Hallmark has honed in on this holiday and transformed it into something it was never meant to be. That being said, a little recognition never hurts...unless you belong to MY family. And then it means that the recognition is there, but the problem lays with the execution.
PART ONE:
The Plan: Take my mom to breakfast. A unique and delicious place. Quiet. Good service. Engage in fun and interesting conversation.
The Execution: Go to Rooster who, when we call, does not take reservations but are currently "dead." By the time we get there, they are "packed" and there is a 30 minute wait that takes 50 minutes. Add into picture disgruntled, hungry 13-year old and cold, hungry 6-year old and unsatisfied, hungry, wiggly 1-year old. Once seated, eat adult has to take turns walking Neviyah around restaurant so that she doesn't "scream bloody murder." Chandler gets wrong food item, doesn't tell us, eats a few bites and is starved. Alia's food doesn't come out until we are all almost done eating and Nevi is at zero tolerance for being there even one more second. My mom's food is missing the extra "$0.75" item. No conversation is able to take place. We don't get home until 1:00 p.m. (and we left before 9:00 a.m.!).
PART TWO:
The Plan: Relaxing swim and workout.
The Execution: The family locker room is squashy and creepy. As my daughter is changing, an old man is wandering around in there until his caretaker finds him, strips him and puts him in the shower. The doors to the showers are clear. This is NOT the locker room for my family. Swimming is fun except for the realization that people in the J Cafe are watching us. This bumps up the creep factor by 2. After, I go to workout but I am so hyper aware of time (and Rob at the pool with both the younger ones) that I rush around and stress myself out. Some guy keeps getting on each piece of equipment I want. It is really irritating. I find I can only do 6 crunches on the damn crunch machine. Hello? Afterwards, my blood sugar is crazy-low and I am shaking. And unable to cope.
PART THREE:
The Plan: Eat. Quickly. Dewey's.
The Execution: 40-minute wait. We wander around until we find another pizza joint. Their pizza is salty and the toppings are not good. Neviyah is so tired she can barely function so instead of going to sleep, she become super-hyper-baby-girl in an effort to stay awake. We couldn't get out of that restaurant soon enough.
So, there you have it. In a way, I got what I wanted--to spend the day with my family. At the end of the night, reflecting involved attempting to de-stress and trying to stop my brain long enough to fall asleep. As a family, we do just fine spending the day together. When we do this because it is a "special day" is when it seems to fall apart for us. The pressure is too much! Still, I enjoyed being with them and since I am able to say I have a family who is healthy and caring, I guess I really don't have much to complain about. :)
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