Random Restaurant Memories

Yesterday was my husband, Ed's, 60th birthday. He has now joined the ranks of senior citizens (a fact he's not too thrilled about!). We had a nice dinner at a new restaurant - I've always loved to eat out. It's something I inherited from my parents and passed on to my children. And, of course, there are always those memorable meals. Like the time.....

It was my 12th birthday and my parents took me to a nice restaurant for dinner. My dad had on a white cardigan sweater. There was even music - well, actually, there was a roving accordian player. He knew one song - Blue Moon. Oh, he would stop at every table and ask for requests, but then he would apologize, say that he didn't know whatever it was you asked for, and launch into one more rendition of Blue Moon. I believe that was the same evening the bus boy, while cleaning our table, dropped a big glob of ketchup on my dad's white cardigan - and then proceeded to try to wipe it with the napkin. Thus creating a large Rorschach on my dad's right arm.

Then there was the time we were seated next to a table with four loud-laughing young women. They all had on jeans and midriff length halter tops. You know, the type of outfit where, when you sit down, there is a gap at the top of the jeans. A very convenient place for the waitress who is walking by to spill a large glass of ice water. Dang, that woman could scream - while jumping up and down!

When my kids were little, we lived in Denver for a couple of years and my brother would come to visit. There was a fun restaurant there called Casa Bonita. Only problem was that you had to wait in line to get your food. The kids were in a stroller getting a bit antsy, and Tony kept telling us his stomach didn't feel good. But, he always had stomach issues so we didn't take him seriously. There was an older man in front of us using a cane. A cane that my son kept grabbing! Old man not too happy. But the cane issue paled in comparison to my brother saying "I really don't feel good" right before he threw up. Yup, partially on aforementioned man with cane.

A more pleasant (if not more comical) memory was on Mother's Day in 1978. The kids were 4 1/2 and we went to a nice hotel for a brunch. Joe and Jenni were all dressed up, there were flowers and ice sculptures everywhere, champagne was flowing. The waitress came by to ask if we needed anything and Joe swung his arm over the back of the chair and said, "You got any suckers in this place?"

One of the most touching restaurant moments was when my kids were 7 or 8. We went out for a birthday dinner - just the three of us. Went to Bobby McGees. I had mentioned to the hostess that it was their birthday so they could bring out a cake and sing. While we were waiting for our table, the kids told me they had to go to the bathroom. They were only gone for a few minutes and then our table was ready. We had a nice dinner, and a birthday cake finale complete with a chorus of waiters and busboys. The kids had a great time. On the way out of the restaurant the hostess pulled me aside and said, "You need to know what your kids did tonight. While you were waiting for your table, they came up to me and said that you were always doing nice things for them so they wanted to do something special for you. Then they asked us to bring a cake to the table after dinner to surprise you." To this day I don't know if the cake was the one I asked for, or the one they asked for. But I do know that I had tears in my eyes all the way home.