Mommy Dating

Last week, I went to lunch with another mom and her kid. I barely survived the experience, I felt stressed, harried and flustered. There was no aura of calm surrounding the event. It was, in a word, chaos.

Her young child was yelling, screaming and kicking up a fuss. The waiter was giving us the evil eye, customers were complaining and I felt trapped in a bad episode of Super Nanny.

As we left the restaurant, I thought we might share a moment of relief, thrilled that THAT was over. Whew! We'd never do that again, right? Instead, with sincerity, the other mom gushed about how wonderful the lunch was.

Look, there are times that it is better, in fact, to stay home, make a lot of dirty dishes and pans, and be up to your elbows in soapsuds whilst screaming bedtime marching orders. Horrifying other people and myself, is not my idea of a good time.

However, it looks like this is all a personal perspective.

I found myself back on an awkward date with a boy that I really did not want to see ever again. This could be referred to as the "Don't call me, I'll call you, and then I won't call you," situation.

This statement is only party true. I like the other mom a lot, I just did not want to ever go out to lunch with her kid again.

Maybe I'm dating myself? I'm older, my kids are older, we do not live in the world of Pampers and throwing food in public places anymore. Maybe I'm a dinosaur. Maybe I forgot what it's like to eat with tiny tykes, because my tykes are towering over me now.

That's not the surprising part. I get that kids will be kids. I get that you can't expect angels. What I don't get is that the other mom thought it was a lovely afternoon and was oblivious to the mass hysteria we caused the waitstaff and fellow diners.

Despite my rant, I'm speechless.