Sunday we tried to go out to eat as a family to what I thought was going to be a semi-dressy Italian restaurant. I called ahead of time to see if they took reservations. They did! So I made one for all four of us at 6pm. Since this was turning out to be fancy, we dressed fancy. Alden was in his new shirt and tie, Avery wore a skort (that’s a big deal), I wore my snazzy new red sweater and Josh wore actual slacks. And with much anticipation, we were off to our family Valentine’s dinner.
We arrived to find a brightly lit super casual pizza joint. The woman that greeted us at the door was wearing a disheveled ponytail, untucked polo shirt and jeans. I told her we had a reservation and she looked at my quizzically and said, “We don’t take reservations.” Turns out her dad (the owner) just took my reservation. But they don’t actually TAKE reservations. At this place, you order your food at the cash register and pay for it before they bring it to the table. FINE. WHATEVER. We were there, dressed up in our Sunday best. So we decided to make the best of it. We sat in a booth…by the way did I mention how bright it was in that place? My retinas are still burning. Josh took everyone’s order and went back to the cash register. He promptly returned with our Styrofoam cups and my saran wrapped side salad and we waited for our food.
And let’s just say that things went downhill from there. The food was pricey. The service was awful. Our server brought our appetizers, salads and entrees within minutes of one another. Then made us wait for 15 minutes to deliver our desserts. AND I had to saw through my veal parm with a knife. Oh well…
When we got home that night, I had the kids get everything together for the next day. Backpacks…check. School clothes…check. Valentine’s for the parties…. This is when my son decided to announce that he had ALREADY taken his Valentine’s to school last week and handed them out. WHAT?!?! So there I am at 9 pm trying to wrangle some goodies for the party out of thin air. I will say this. I am a magician. I managed to throw together 18 prizes complete with name tags. Proved to my husband that my box of flotsam IS actually useful. All of this drama and it’s not even Valentine’s day yet.
Monday I awoke to not presents or notes or anything. If you know my husband, you know this is par for the course. He is the most caring, loving, genuine person I have ever known but his gift giving prowess is, well, not his forte. But when I got home that evening, he had gotten me a pot of tulips. And not just any tulips, but some that were the most lovely shade of violet. I have never seen any that color before. Plus he bought me a bag of Dove chocolate. Not wrapped, just the bag. He totally cracks me up. I can never tell anyone what he got me for this past birthday without laughing hysterically. Want to know what it was? A universal remote. A massaging pillow that felt like it was really, really mad at me. Some headphones (which I did need). And a yoga DVD (it’s been around 5 years since I last did yoga).
All that being said about his gift giving, I love him dearly. I don’t need any special day to remind me of that. And after 10 years of being with him, I will take him the way he is, especially since he takes me the way I am!
Oh and just as a PS to this whole Valentine’s drama, I asked Alden if his friends liked the goody bags I made. He said that he had the best ones in his class. Then told me that he shouted at the top of his voice in class, “ALDEN BURKE STRIKES AGAIN!”
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