So… yesterday, after church, we went — as we often do — to a place called Ajo Al’s. They don’t have a gluten-free menu, but we’ve eaten there so much, we know what’s safe, and we have a favorite waitress who goes back to the kitchen to make sure things are prepared in a g.f. way. Love her. Libby, the best waitress EVER. She’s the kind who remembers your drinks, and what you ordered last time, even if you haven’t been there for a couple of months. She’s very pretty, too, and all the boys are smitten, and Audrey adores her. (Libby at the Arrowhead location. Tell her that the family with three cherry cokes, an Arnold Palmer, a Diet Pepsi, and an apple juice sent you. 
)
Since Arizona has no smoking anywhere now, we are free to sit in the lounge, where they have the TVs. It’s football season, so, of course, we’re watching football. Even Audrey can holler, “Touchdown!!” now.
Yesterday, our oldest two boys, Ethan and Grant, went over to friends’ houses after church, so it was just Martin, 6yo Wesley, and 20 month-old Audrey. We thought, “Fantastic! This’ll be a snap! A peaceful meal, watching football.”
Um, no.
It was the worst restaurant trip ever. Audrey became the baby you NEVER hope to be seated near when you go into a restaurant. She screamed with ear-piercing pitch and volume. She cried, spewing snot everywhere. She threw food. She grabbed everything and everyone within arm’s length. She wiggled out of her high chair. It was hellish. Thankfully, I was close to the exit door and took her out on the patio a couple of times to get her to calm down. Audrey can be loud sometimes, but usually, it’s very brief, and we’ve never had to leave a restaurant due to our child’s behavior. But, there’s always a first time. Finally, I told my hubby, “That’s it. I’m outta here.”
We were in separate vehicles, so I left with Audrey, leaving Martin and Wes to finish up and pay. Well, Martin to pay. Not Wes.
I was embarrassed at the scene Audrey caused. I was agitated. I was frustrated. All those lovely emotions that make one so very pleasant.
As I drove to the gas station, I started grousing to myself about my hubby, who hadn’t really done anything to be of any assistance as I was struggling with our daughter. Grr…
So, there I was, at Costco, irritated with my little girl, irrititated with my husband, and generally feeling crabby, pumping gas. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my husband’s truck, edging its way carefully between the rows of vehicles. “Babe!” he hollers, holding a soda out the window, a wide smile on his handsome face.
I immediately started repenting for my attitude towards my husband, and for my general, “Woe is me” state.
My hubby doesn’t even like me to drink soda; in the regular stuff, the corn syrup is bad for you, and in the diet stuff, the aspartame is highly questionable. Yet, he had noticed that in my hasty exit, I had left a full glass of Diet Pepsi on the table. He had the waiter put it in a to-go cup, and delivered to to me at the gas station.
God is gentle with me, even when I’m irrationally grumpy, and have let what’s a fairly normal event in the lives of most everyone with a toddler become something that hangs, black-cloud-style, over my life and attitude.
And, He knows how to get me out of it. Soda in hand, love in my heart, I drove back home. Audrey fell asleep on the way. And she stayed asleep when I put her into bed.
And I went to watch some more football, do the crossword, and take a nap.
It was a good day, after all.
