Happy!

I just realized I hadn't posted anything in nearly a month. Nothing really awful has happened. That's a good thing! (I no longer consider tussles with my health insurance company to be of any significance - they have become a way of life. I am just grateful that I have a health insurance company to tussle with.) Nothing really remarkable has happened, either. We made a few trips up to Oklahoma City - Mother's Day where we had an extraordinary lunch and then for the twins' school awards ceremony, and then for their spring concert, where they were featured in a duet and in an ensemble. We even stopped for some famous food along the way - Robertson's ham sandwiches and Arbuckle Fried Pies. Happy times.

We  met up with friends for dinner several times - tried out some new places (Zhabuki) and some old favorites (like Bavarian Grill and Gordon Biersch). We even spent one evening at Top Golf.

We celebrated an anniversary this past week. We spent the night at the Marriott and had dinner at the Capital Grill. Not as good as the Capital Grill in Chicago - and for the money, the next time we'll go to The Mansion or The Palm. But we had a great meal and a good time celebrating our eight years together. Mark makes me happy. Going through our wedding pictures looking for one to post on Facebook also made me happy.

We spent our rainy/cloudy holiday seeing a film and planning some trips for the rest of the year. We've booked our hotels for England and changed our plans to eliminate Brussels and substitute Cornwall. We're thinking a road trip to New River Gorge is in order - probably in July or August. (Because we're driving we don't need to be exact.) We're also planning a rail trip in the fall from London to Paris and then to Zurich. From Zurich over the Bernina Pass to Italy and on to Spoleto for a reunion before returning home. We're reluctant to plan any further out than that but we do have some destinations in mind. I think it's going to be a great year! Happy!

Our garden is a big source of happy, but it's a bit torn up right now. We had the decks ripped out and they are being replaced with a concrete and stone patio. It probably won't be finished until August. (Apparently you have to wait 30 days to stain the concrete and it can't be poured until nearly the end of this month - and we don't want to build the pergola until the concrete is stained. And I don't want to plant the hanging baskets until I have their new places ready. Lots of things to do and each thing dependent on another. But my visual image of the completed project makes me happy. Can't wait!

Here are some of the places that are NOT under construction:

Family Friendly

"Family Friendly" - Loosely translated, it means you have no reasonable expectation of a quiet meal. People will bring their children and turn them loose. They are free to run around flailing their arms like windmills. They can scream. They can beat the table with silverware. And no one will say anything to them or to the parents who are ignoring them. (This is bad enough on a regular day, but when you're suffering with the aftermath of a root canal, it's nearly intolerable.) And mind you, it wasn't even the same child. It was coming from all directions!

I've always been a proponent of taking children out to eat. How will they know how to act in a restaurant if no one ever takes them? The problem is that too many parents are taking them, but not teaching them how to behave in a restaurant (or any other public place).

It was not always so. My mother had a "look". She didn't even need to say anything. That look was enough to let you know you'd better stop whatever it was you were doing. When my son was little, I tried to have a look. I'm not certain it was successful, but I did have words. When looking at him didn't work, I told my son  to stop obnoxious and annoying behavior, particularly in public. And I know that my son and his wife do not tolerate bad behavior from my grandchildren. When they were toddlers, if they were having meltdowns they were taken out of the restaurant. My daughter-in-law's philosophy was that it was unfair to inflict their screaming on other diners. It seems to have worked because we can take them anywhere, including places that are not "family friendly" and not worry about their behavior.

But I fear her philosophy is not shared by most moms. I was having lunch last week with my Bible Study group and there was a table with a man, a woman, and two little girls. One of the little girls was so well behaved, you almost didn't realize she was there. But the other one screamed, twisted her face up, shoved food in her mouth with her hands and pounded the table. Both children appeared to be about the same age - maybe five or six. All of us were fighting the urge to go to that table and offer some unsolicited parenting advice, or perhaps a good old-fashioned whack. Probably not Christ-like behavior. But it's hard to imagine our Lord welcoming the little children if they behaved like that one. Anyway, perhaps the child had a medical condition. Perhaps it was possessed by a demon. Who am I to judge? But I would ask parents not to inflict their child's bad behavior on complete strangers.