Save you from yourself

I should have said no. Sweet mother of all that is good, I had sat in that very dining room a week in the rearview and told myself that The Black Eyed Pea sucked. That I should never come back. Kids eat free my ass, shitty service exacts its own price which affirms yet again, nothing in this world is truly free.

But there I sat, ever the dumbass, in the kids eat free ghetto, surrounded by all these kids who weren't eating for free. We had been waiting 40 long minutes in a not so busy restaurant for an order that consisted of two hamburgers for the Boy(s), pot roast for my Lovely Bride, and my abortion of a choice, sirloin steak (which was nothing more than a hamburger patty on a bed of rice with gravy on top.) And for that gastronomical treat, we were going to pay $2 more than what the Boy(s) hamburger plate would have cost, if it weren't free.

At the 45 minute mark I stood, and pushed away from the table and said to my Lovely Bride, "I'm done, let's get the Boy(s) McDonalds and Thai food for us." She gave me a look harsher than her words could ever be in a public restaurant and said, "No." If that wasn't enough the Boy(s) not really getting why I was angry started imploring me to 'not leave.' So I sat back down, impotent, and said to myself over and over, I should have said no.

After the food arrived (I think total wait time was 50 minutes but I might be embellishing a bit because The Black Eyed Pea sucks) and we had finished our fine meal, I decided to split. I had met the Team there, so I had my own car. I figured my Lovely Bride could handle the bill, and the issue with the kids being charged for their free meal. I asked the Boy(s) if they would like to go home with me. As usual the Elder Boy wanted to decamp with his Dear Old Dad, while the Little Warrior decided to stick close to his Mom.

On our way home, driving down a dark side road, apropos of nothing, Ethan asked me, "Is Pops asleep?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is Pops asleep...now. It's dark outside."

Looking at the clock in my XTerra I noted it was only 7:15pm, and remembered that my Dad was in Mississippi on business.

"Pops is in Mississippi this week. That's a state. Like Texas or Oklahoma. He's probably at dinner now, for business. Pops does that a lot when he travels. He'll take the guys from the Steel Mill out for dinner with their wives."

Silence followed, which was odd, because the Elder Boy is normally relentless with his questions. I was about to ask him if he was ok, his silence was so disquieting in the darkness of the car, when when he said, "Pops doesn't have a wife."

Shocked by his lucidity as well as saddened by what he said I replied, "No, Son, Pops doesn't have a wife. Granny died ."

"He doesn't have Gypsy either. She died."

"Yes, Gypsy did die."

"He doesn't have that, that...as he struggled to remember the name...that...cat either."

"Dallas. That cat was named Dallas. No Dallas died too."

We rode in silence for a few more blocks, me lost in somber thoughts when it dawned on me that I needed to offer up something more - be his Dad.

"Son, are you worried about Pops? Are you afraid that he is lonely?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure Pops misses Granny. And Gypsy. And the cat, Dallas. He is sad at times, and maybe lonely sometimes, but he has a lot of friends in Houston and has work and..."

"Pops should come and live with us."

That Dear Reader is straight out of the mouth of a Boy who will be five years old tomorrow. Sweet mother of all that is good, one of the hardest things about being a breeder is seeing what you feel are your worst traits in them.

Until I BLOG again... You get so lost inside your head Like no one else