The Big Day

We went last night to Gabriel's new school for open house. We had the opportunity to meet Mrs. VegetableName (his new teacher), who seems like a lovely and caring person. We put Gabe's school supplies in his desk, and met the class guinea pig, and I signed up to help with the class Halloween party. We put his gym shoes in his locker. We walked from the front door of the building to Mrs. VegetableName's room, so that he would know where to go when he gets off the bus.

Gabriel was excited. Husband felt reassured after meeting the teacher. I felt like my heart was breaking in two, or possibly six pieces. I knew it was irrational. We decided we were in the mood for boneless chicken wings, and went to Fricker's for dinner. There were only five tables in their non-smoking section, and all were full. We sat down in an isolated section of the restaurant where Husband and Gabe could see the baseball game on one of the televisions. The three other customers in that section of the restaurant immediately lit up and starting smoking like chimneys. None of them looked old enough to actually legally buy a pack of cigarettes. I glared at them. They continued to smoke. When the waitress came back with our drinks, I stood up and said, "I'm sorry, we're not sitting here." I pointed at the three obnoxious smokers. "I cannot breathe. I can't believe they lit up in front of a six year old. That is obnoxious." I pointed again at the offending smoke stack teenagers. (I should point out, that most of our county has a smokeless restaurant law in effect. The restaurant we happened to be in, was not covered by that law. It is so rare to see people smoking in restaurants, that I had kind of forgotten that people still do that.) The waitress said, "Let's see if a table has opened up in non-smoking." Of course one hadn't.

So, we left. We did not pay for the drinks we ordered. I've never done that before. But, it was just so obnoxious. All three of us smelled awful, just from five minutes of sitting with the smokers. I was unreasonable furious when we got in the car, and Gabe was hungry and started to cry about wanting "some chicken." I asked Husband if I was over-reacting. He said yes, but, that he supported my decision to leave the restaurant, as he would not have been able to enjoy his food. We drove the Buffalo Wild Wings, and once we all got some food in us that was not contaminated by cigarette smoke, we all felt much better.

We came home, packed Gabe's lunch, picked out his clothes for the next day, read some Harry Potter, and went to bed. I had thought Gabe would fall asleep pretty quickly, but, he was up and down several time from 10:00 to midnight. I was asleep the last time he was up, but, Husband tells me that Gabe got up, and moved from his own bedroom to the front guestroom around midnight. I guess he had trouble sleeping.

We were all up at 7:45, ate breakfast, and Gabe was ready to get on the bus 20 minutes early. He kept running to the front door and asking where the bus was, and when it finally arrived he was giddy with excitement.

Here are some photos. Yes, that is me, waiting in line to get on the bus to talk to the driver. Yes, I was the only mom to do this. But, it made me feel better. I should point out, I did, in fact, brush my hair after this photo was taken. I did not go to work looking like I had stuck my finger in a light socket.

LM