Conversations Heard at Restaurant

Things in my little world have felt a bit mixed up lately. I do not deal well with change. Even GOOD change.

Two weeks ago THGGM and I were on a nice vacation in Traverse City. It was lovely. Relaxing and refreshing.

The following week, THGGM was still on vacation. It felt as if I got nothing done. It was fun, but not as productive as I had hoped.

(meaning, i still do not have shelves in my kitchen closet, although the boards are cut and the lines drawn for hanging.)

What we DID do was go out to eat A LOT. Well, we didn't actually EAT a lot, we went out a lot.

At breakfast one morning we were sitting in a section with two sweet looking elderly women.

And, a younger business man eating alone while conducting business on his cell phone.

The elderly women were actually the closest people to us (by this time, thggm and i had absolutely nothing left to say to each other - two weeks of vacation together will do this, and neither of us mind one bit. this always causes one of us to quote a line from 'when harry met sallly') but we never heard even one word of their conversation. They were well mannered ladies.

For reasons unbeknownst (i love that word!) to me, the younger business man had NO PROBLEM at all talking very loudly on his cell phone.

It was almost like he was the elderly one and hard of hearing also.

Without wanting too, I now know personal information about his client. I also know that someone in the office is extremely mad about something, but it is not this man's fault. No. It wasn't him. Maybe if he had only said this once, it wouldn't have stuck with me, but he seemed to feel compelled to repeat this over and over, increasing the volume with each telling.

But, if he were the only loud one, breakfast may have been relaxing. I find it easy to ignore things about which I have no interest, and I have no interest in real estate nor money.

Enter: Loud Mom and Two Year Old with ability to masterfully control her Loud Mom.

Loud Mom ENTERED the room by saying LOUDLY - in a voice I have only ever heard used by that thick-bearded guy on TV who sells things like OxyClean - STOP SAYING THAT. YOU CAN HAVE CHOCOLATE CAKE AND ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST BUT WE HAVE TO ORDER IT FIRST.

Although we NEVER personally talked with this woman nor her 2 year old dictator of a child, I am privy to much information about the two of them.

They are moving. (moving is stressful. i know that.)

They are going to live with grandparents for awhile while daddy fixes up the new house on many acres in the country. (hopefully enough acres to not disturb close neighbors.)

I know the name of their dog, and the name of a dog they may have to borrow so that foxes and bears do not eat their little dog. (comforting words to a child of two, no doubt.)

She does not normally give her child chocolate cake and ice cream for breakfast, she said, but the little dear wants it so badly. She even woke up asking for it. (i did once feed my 22 month old chocolate cake for breakfast just because he asked for it. but, i was 9 months pregnant and in the privacy of my own home. also, the boy was shocked that i acquiesced.)

It's okay to give her chocolate cake and ice cream for breakfast because she will be taking a nap when they get back to the hotel. (really? how'd that work out, i wonder.)

Not only did the child get chocolate cake and ice cream for breakfast, she was escorted to the bakery window to pick out the exact piece she wanted. The entire time she worked at eating it Loud Mom ran a constant play-by-play of everything that had happened so far that day. To the daughter.

Then, she called the child's grandma and repeated it all over again to her. Loudly. (she asked to talk to grandpa, but thank goodness! he was busy!)

Next, she told the waitress, the waitress who had obviously never served chocolate cake and ice cream before noon to a 2 year old.

Followed by a retelling in triplicate to the businessman. The businessman who told the child what a nice mommy she had for ordering her chocolate cake and ice cream for breakfast.

Oh, and just for fun, the restaurant started filling up, and EVERY passer-by got to hear the unabridged account of why the two year old was having chocolate cake and ice cream for breakfast.

I believe that I would be less bothered by breathing second hand smoke than by being exposed to the sounds of people who have no clue that there IS such a thing as an inside voice.

There. I got that off my chest.

Aren't my peonies beautiful?

I love them!