A Yankee has Landed in Texas

Being a mom is the most rewarding thing I have ever been in my life. I am so thankful for the gift of my children. They are my pride and joy and my most cherished treasures. However, there have been times when I wasn’t so happy or pleased with them. One such time was when I was pregnant with my second daughter and went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant with my then 26 month old daughter and my husband. That’s right, we were in the beginning of our twos which weren’t always terrible, only sometimes! I was 8 months pregnant and in those last few long weeks of pregnancy. My husband calls this period hell month because everything is swollen and huge and uncomfortable and we just want it to end already! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being pregnant but those last weeks drag on forever it seems.

So, we are at our favorite little Chinese restaurant and the waiter takes our order. He tells me that the meal I have chosen comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I do not care much for vanilla ice cream, besides, I typically do not have dessert with my meal because I really have to watch it (I gain weight just thinking about dessert and if I were to eat it too, whew, I would be beyond big!) but I know my daughter loves vanilla ice cream. She always without fail asks for it for dessert every time we come to this restaurant. So, I think to myself, great, Samantha can have mine when it comes. How perfect.

We eat our meal and have a nice time. The waiter comes around asking if anyone wants dessert, other than me of course because my meal comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Samantha says no in her two year old, irritated way. I ask her about three more times if she’s sure she doesn’t want ice cream because she loves it so much and she says “No, no, no Mommy!” OK. I am surprised but stop asking. The waiter brings my dish of ice cream. Again, I ask, as sweetly as I can, “Honey, would you like my ice cream?” She says no, no, no again. I ask her if she just wants a little bite then. No, no, no!!! OK, then. So, I take a scoop of it in my spoon and put it in my mouth and Samantha bursts into tears and yells (and I mean yells), “Stop eating my ice cream!” Every one in the dining room turns to look at me with my spoon in my mouth and Samantha crying next to me!

Of course I try to calmly, but loudly, reply to Samantha, “But, honey this is MY ice cream and I offered it to you but you said no.” The stares and glares continue, I turn bright red, and of course slide the dish over to Samantha, who then very happily begins to eat the ice cream and smile so preciously at me! I could have wrung that sweet, beautiful little neck at that moment!

My kids think I am crazy sometimes!  I put myself on automatic pilot, especially when I am driving, and some funny things happen when I do that!  When I told my then 13 year old daughter one day, that I missed turning on her friend’s street because I was on automatic pilot and was thinking we were driving to the grocery store instead, she actually thought it was a button in the car that I pushed to turn on ‘automatic pilot’!  I guess I used that phrase an awful lot at the time to explain the many mindless mistakes I made.

One day, I picked my daughter and her friend up from dance practice and they asked if we could go to Taco Bell and get food from the drive thru.  I said sure and off we went.  I drove up to the window and didn’t realize that there was only one window at Taco Bell.  Most drive thrus have 2 windows, one for paying and then one for dispensing the food.  I have driven thru many, many fast food drive thrus being a working mom with two very active young girls. 

So, that day, I ordered the food through the intercom at the drive thru, then proceeded to the window to pay.  There was a young man, a teenager, working the window at the time.  I paid my money, he gave me the change, I said thank you and I drove forward to go to the next window.  But there wasn’t a 2nd window!  I continued to drive forward, not realizing that I should be stopping at a window for the food but instead was driving out into the parking area toward the street to head home!  My daughter and her friend sat in the back seat quiet, watching me.  They sat there for about 30 seconds until my daughter finally said, “Mom, we didn’t get our food.”  I looked back at the restaurant drive thru and the young man working was hanging out the window watching me drive off.  I burst out laughing and did a huge U turn and headed back to the drive thru window.  Thankfully, no one else had driven up yet.  The young man watched me, without even cracking a smile and as I drove up to the window dying from laughter, he calmly said “Want your food now?”