An Inconvenient Booth

I’ve had a bad week so far. And it’s only Tuesday. It started out with a UTI. Sure, maybe my UTI is a little TMI, but if you’ve ever had one, you can appreciate this post. Then, as I was leaving home today to pick Jacob up from school and shuttle him to his baseball game, my car exploded. Maybe “exploded” is a slight exaggeration, but there was a definite “fire cracker” sound, followed by a whistling sound, then it just stopped moving. I had to speed walk the two blocks home and hop into the old “un-registered”, “un-insured” white Volvo (we are mid-process in the state’s vehicle retirement program so we can get $1000 for it!). So, I had to drive in an un-registered vehicle, all the way from Pleasanton to Fremont, while my car was on the side of the road, feeling like I had to pee the entire time. Good times! Needless to say – when I got home and barked at Rob to “do the dishes or SOMETHING!”, he suggested we go out to eat. Yes!

Why is it that any time I am inconvenienced, or have had a bad day, dining out makes it all better? I love to cook. But for some reason, the allure of dining out is overwhelmingly strong at times.

As we sat on the patio at Fernando’s on this beautiful balmy evening, I (somewhat) sadly acknowledged my expanding belly while happily eating a Super Burrito chased with two margaritas. The basket of chips were nearly gone...had Rob had any? I glanced around and took note of all of the “well over 40” women clad in too-tight True Religion jeans paired with the ever so tasteful “high heeled flip flops”, then there was the guy with the black Bermuda shorts and combat boots, and it dawned on me that, well, really nothing dawned on me at all. We are all just people united in burritos and margaritas. It is what it is. Sometimes I cook and I eat healthy, and sometimes I go to Fernando’s. It reminded me of something my son said to me many years ago when he was about 4 ½. I asked him “Why do you cry on some days when I drop you off at daycare, and other days you don’t cry and you’re happy?” He told me “Mom, sometimes, a tree holds on to it’s leaves, and sometimes it lets them go and be’s naked. A thing just does what a thing does.”

This week, I am just a “thing” (not to be confused with “thin”), and so I will do what I do.

But tomorrow…..I HIKE!