Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Go ahead! Smoke in the Sandbox!

Kids, particularly my kids get up at the crack of dawn. If Eric sleeps anywhere close to 7:00 AM we consider that "sleeping late." So, it's a little frustrating that a lot of the stuff we like to do doesn't open until 10.

One of our favorite places to go is the Stone Zoo and they open at 10. However there is a really nice tot lot across the street from there. On Saturday morning by 8:30 or so, Eric was spinning around the house and generally a giant vortex of energy contained in the body of a three foot tall male. So we went to the park across the street from the zoo before it opened.

There was a faded blonde woman, probably in her early 40's sitting at the edge of the sandbox smoking. Was she smoking a cigarette? No, that would have been merely annoying! She was smoking a god damn Cigarillo. I think it was vanilla. I literally had to sit more than 20 feet from her. The smoke clung to the early morning mist and filled the air with the thick stench of vanilla cigar. I stayed as far away from her as I could and I still thought I was going to vomit.

First of all, of all the places to enjoy your morning cigarillo, why the hell pick the sandbox at the local park? What's the matter, did they kick her out of Chuckey Cheese? Was there no smoking seats left at the local wading pool? Oh wait... You can't smoke in those places. So, why not smoke in the sandbox? Granted she was there watching her 2-year-old daughter. But what the f*ck?

In Massachusetts you can't even smoke in a bar. Why is it OK to smoke in a playground?