Mundane participation for the tragically bored.

Sorry to hear this, King, hope things turn around.

Bugger. May better days be coming.

Wearing: black, former teacher t-shirt depicting Shakespeare, proclaiming, “Will Power.” Fave medium blue jeans.
hearing: These crazy oddly defined dudes in the restaurant: two dudes who came in together-/white guy, hopefully waiting on a call back from an audition with his black ‘agent??’ and their black friend who arrived 15 minutes after them—who they are comically helping navigate application process at the restaurant where k am spending way too much money and they are not. I’m finding it hard not to react with my face to what they are saying.
eating: everything. I’ve been trapped in my small apartment due to snowy-icy impassible roads for three days s as I’d ventured out to eat and drink with gusto here. It’s been a show. Oh ****, the artist/ agent duo just came back, smelling STRONGLY of skunk weed. This could be a Netflix special.
drinking: A GREAT DEAL of Blue Moon—because “Storm Izzy” and extreme isolation for 4 days with boring food and no beer.
doing: being nosy, drinking, and suppressing laughter.
feeling: quite good
wanting: um, one more blue moon?

wearing: black watch plaid flannel shirt, black cords
hearing: my grandsons
eating: small piece of paper-wrapped cake
drinking: wee sip pf bourbon
doing: watching the kiddos with my wife
feeling: pretty good because my Covid test came back negative
wanting: better weather (drizzly today)

Wearing: My most yummy warm Christmas presents from son /DIL: cozy, lined adidas black joggers with white stripe, ice-blue s o f t hoodie, magnificent Columbia socks.
hearing: Dr Roger Seheult talking with Dr Chatterjee on his podcast Feel Better Live More — about the importance of sleep, particularly the two hours before midnight. (Will send to night owl family)🤨
eating: Fasting til tomorrow breakfast.
drinking: Last deep Italian roast with MCT oil. Then water for vitamins.
doing: relaxing before work
feeling: quite good
wanting: decisions made

Wearing: White T-shirt from school, hole-y jeans, white tennis shoes.
hearing: Gloria’s crazy accent on Modern Family
eating: Magnificent salad: sautéed cod, sautéed kale, romaine, avocado, sauerkraut, radishes, kalamata olives, drop of picante sauce. I’m eating so slow so it won’t be over.
drinking: water
doing: putting off writing letter of recommendation for my bestie. It’s not going to be good enough.
feeling: like a champion
wanting: more salad

You been raid'n my closet again?
Ain’t nothing else in there

Hearing: Neighbor's airplane warming up
Eating: Jimmy Dean sausage on biscuit
Drinking: As usual
Doing: Fixing crashed drone
Feeling: Satisfaction
Wanting: Thy kingdom come

Now, I want a sausage sandwich.
Don’t say it!

Hope I didn’t spoil that second helping of salad. : )

Wearing: Post-workday jammy clothes: charcoal body-hugging cotton tunic, warm joggers pants and super warm Columbia socks. (I’ve morphed into being cold lately)
Hearing: Real Housewives of NYC. I’m ashamed.
eating: Digesting a meal I tried to eat during a social nightmare.

A young black family entered the restaurant shortly after I did, and immediately, daughter #2 started whining every sentence. I HATE whining. I established this rule early in my own parent years, and I endeavor to make this obvious to everyone in my immediate vicinity. Minutes after noticing the family of six and their whiner, another black family entered. Exceptionally behaved family of 3 young children who were impeccably behaved.

The mom got up and walked away, leaving the three young, well-behaved kids alone—and they were perfect! I was trying not to look over, but I really admired quiet family and wanted the parents with loud, whiny family to notice my admiring looks at well-behaved children family.

Mom comes back—one child had stood up to show her brother something on the page he was coloring, and she said, “I told you not to get up! When I get you home, I’m gonna knock you in your ******* face.” I knew straight as **** that I should call the cops. I knew without a doubt that was my responsibility. Because she was black, I immediately dismissed the idea.

Before one more thought came into my mind, a white man sitting behind me addressed her and said what I should have to her (with the unfortunate addition of his own profanity). I was very concerned about the other black family with their young children and additional children who heard what was happening—worried about how this experience would affect them. Of course, I condemned myself about my previous thoughts re the more lax behavior of the other family.

The restaurant asked the child-threatening family and the white-guy family to leave. Before white guy left, I stood, approached him and thanked him for standing up for the threatened child, and told him I knew I should have, but I’d been too much of a coward. But, I couldn’t get over what the experience must have felt like for the only other black family in the seating area. Suddenly, I felt incredibly guilty about this other family.

I called my waitress and told her I wanted to pay for a specific amount of that family’s bill. I don’t know if that was appropriate, helpful, or self-aggrandizing. All I know is I thought they’d know someone there cared about them and empathized with them. I asked my waitress to tell them after I left, “A patron was sorry that you had to experience what happened.”

I stopped by their table on the way out and said, “Excuse me for interrupting you, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful family.” The dad smiled so big and thanked me. I was about to lose it, so I walked past him and squeezed his shoulder.

I was walking to the car, trying to see through tears. How did we get here?
drinking: water
doing: enjoying buzz til bedtime
feeling: conflicted but pretty good
wanting: peace on earth

Beautiful piece. Well done!

Thank you.

I think you behaved admirably. I can only hope I would that I would conduct myself as well in a similar situation.

(One thing...if you share this, you might want to work with the second and third paragraphs. I'm pretty sure I know what you're trying to describe but is the mother of three who got up and walked away the same one who comes back and threatens her kid? It reads that way, to me at least.)

Yeah, the mom with the impeccably behaved kids was the one who came back and threatened her child. I figured out why they were so well-behaved and, among the things I learned in those few minutes was not to judge parents of less well-behaved kids in public. Some of those well-behaved kids obviously face abuse if they step even slightly out of line.

Thanks for clarifying. I was a bit confused about which family the verbally abusive mother belonged to.

Sorry for confusion.

I personally like a bit of noise from kids. Possibly because I had eleven brothers and sisters. I always figured if you don't want to hear children you shouldn't eat where families eat.

I hear you. My eating out philosophy has always been the opposite, but after this experience, I’m going to have to work on it.

When my children were little, we talked to them before eating out, held them accountable for their behavior, and if they became loud in the restaurant, either my husband or I would take them outside and speak sternly to them.

My thought was: people spend money to enjoy a nice dinner and they should be able to without listening to unruly kids.

Adjusting that now. At 60. 🤦‍♀️

I also had to take my kids out and speak to them a few times. Comes with the territory I think.

Magnificent!