Real grown ups...my definition.

I'm a real grown up.

I. Have. Artwork.

No longer do I just have pictures and candles, but we have artwork.

We are real grown ups now.

Seriously, though...Dave and I bought a painting the other night.

Granted, we bought it at Fred Meyer which may or may not make us more grown up since now we are constricted by budget concerns and the question, "Do we need this painting more or less than the 4 boxes of diapers we could buy with the same amount?" 

And no, it's not actually hanging up...yet.  It's sitting nicely on a table in our garage.  But it will, eventually...no, soon, it will be hanging up soon.

On this same date night where we bought our said painting, we went to dinner at a new restaurant in town that everyone thinks is awesome (including Dave) but not I.  I think it's mediocre and incredibly loud, and really when I have a chance to not be with the kids - the last thing I want to do is willingly go somewhere that's even louder than my home.  But regardless, that is where we went (because I love my husband so) and we, of course, were seated right next to a table with a baby.  Dave looked at me with an "oh boy, here we go" expression and I reassured him that it would be just fine...what harm could a tiny baby do.

Little did I know about the six year old.  She was going potty.

She returned to the table and began dancing in the isle between our two tables.  There she danced, turning in circles and waving her arms around like she was at a dance party and like it was totally acceptable to be doing that in a restaurant.  As she danced and kicked her legs, waving her arms almost knocking over our drinks - I just calmly moved them to the other side of the table.

I sat there staring, yes staring (I have a problem with that when people with deplorable manners are out in public) at her parents who were not oblivious to the dancing, but just completely didn't care.  They, apparently felt her dancing was so fabulous that when the servers tried to pass by carrying large trays of food they didn't even motion to her to get out of the way.  I am convinced that my mouth hung open as I watched the lack of consideration in this family. 

The little girl went away again for some reason, I can only assume another trip to the restroom when her dad, who had wonderful manners himself, decided to stand right in the aisle as well.  I began to laugh as I saw the servers walk around him trying hard to respect his personal space although he was completely disrespecting theirs.

And then our food came.  I saw the girl carrying our food high on the tray and was excited to finally eat and be done with this whole performance when the dad so nicely bumped into our server, causing her to lose her balance and our food went crashing down to the ground.

Awesome friends.  Awesome.

Did he look over and apologize?  No.  Did he move back into his booth and sit down?  No.  Did he move so when all the bus boys were trying to clean it up they didn't have to work around him?  NO!  IT WAS INSANE!!!!  Who does that?????????????????????????????

At that point, I wished that our kids were with us so they could see that rude manners affect everyone around us.

There are parents who are way to hard on their kids in public, expecting them to not make a peep.  There are parents who spend the entire time at a restaurant telling their kids to sit down, not scream, don't do that with your fork.  There are parents who are oblivious to their children and I think they have just reconciled their kids are possessed and their is nothing they can do about it.  And there are parents who are so rude and disrespectful themselves that they think their kids audacious behavior is totally normal.

But our meal was comped (which was nice since we pay a pretty little penny for Mary Poppins which is worth every cent, but still...) and then we rewarded our patience and our restraint with buying artwork.

Patient, restrained adults with artwork...I'm so grown up.