Oh my Gawd. Satahday Night at the Mall
I went crazy last week. It started on Thursday and continued into Friday and by Saturday I was a trembling mess and ended up hiding from my family in my closet (true story). It mostly had to do with being housebound with a non napping, but exhausted three year old during the cold snap. Husband out of town for part of the week and not getting home until after six the rest. Leaving the house with the two of them was more than I could manage. Note to self: Get out of the damn house. It's really worth it. All these things sent me into a thankfully temporary depression that had me wrapped in a cloud of doom. Rich proposed a date and I accepted.
So, my sister came over to babysit and Rich took me out on a hot date. I was in the mood for the Cheesecake factory and I really wanted to minimize my time out of doors. So, we opted for the Cambridgeside Galleria. We tucked our little muffins into bed and they were both conked out by 7:30 and sheepishly headed out for "date night at the mall."
Much to my surprise, the place was hopping, and bopping. I grew up in Cambridge and spent much of my time pretending that "The Garage" was not a mall. Where I grew up teenagers did not hang out in MALLS. (at least we pretended we didn't) We hung out in "The Pit." So, I never really got acclimated to mall culture. It never ceases to amaze me that people go to malls for recreational purposes. Saturday night was a total exception. Usually your average mall will give me a migraine in under 25 minutes. But I had a mission. I wanted to be walking around, out of my house and NOT be cold. It seemed like a reasonable compromise.
However, I was really surprised by how many other people had the same idea. Then I noticed all the kids. There were dozens of families with babies and toddlers at the mall at 9:00 on a Saturday night. What the F*ck? I saw a chunky woman with a very chunky toddler. The woman was holding a giant pink Starbucks milkshake out to the girl who was sucking it down with a straw. I saw a teenaged mother, her daughter snug into a car seat in a Graco travel system flirting with the guy at the cell phone kiosk. I heard a glass shattering sonic screech from an over tired preschooler at the restaurant. And I saw one very nice looking family with 2 very well behaved kids about 4 & 6 very nicely eating their dinner after 10:00 PM.
We go out to eat with our kids all the time. But we're done by 7 or 7:30 at the latest. These poor kids were in for the evening and I just kept wondering why? It's no fun to be in a mall with a miserable kid. Especially late at night.
What am I missing here?
I went crazy last week. It started on Thursday and continued into Friday and by Saturday I was a trembling mess and ended up hiding from my family in my closet (true story). It mostly had to do with being housebound with a non napping, but exhausted three year old during the cold snap. Husband out of town for part of the week and not getting home until after six the rest. Leaving the house with the two of them was more than I could manage. Note to self: Get out of the damn house. It's really worth it. All these things sent me into a thankfully temporary depression that had me wrapped in a cloud of doom. Rich proposed a date and I accepted.
So, my sister came over to babysit and Rich took me out on a hot date. I was in the mood for the Cheesecake factory and I really wanted to minimize my time out of doors. So, we opted for the Cambridgeside Galleria. We tucked our little muffins into bed and they were both conked out by 7:30 and sheepishly headed out for "date night at the mall."
Much to my surprise, the place was hopping, and bopping. I grew up in Cambridge and spent much of my time pretending that "The Garage" was not a mall. Where I grew up teenagers did not hang out in MALLS. (at least we pretended we didn't) We hung out in "The Pit." So, I never really got acclimated to mall culture. It never ceases to amaze me that people go to malls for recreational purposes. Saturday night was a total exception. Usually your average mall will give me a migraine in under 25 minutes. But I had a mission. I wanted to be walking around, out of my house and NOT be cold. It seemed like a reasonable compromise.
However, I was really surprised by how many other people had the same idea. Then I noticed all the kids. There were dozens of families with babies and toddlers at the mall at 9:00 on a Saturday night. What the F*ck? I saw a chunky woman with a very chunky toddler. The woman was holding a giant pink Starbucks milkshake out to the girl who was sucking it down with a straw. I saw a teenaged mother, her daughter snug into a car seat in a Graco travel system flirting with the guy at the cell phone kiosk. I heard a glass shattering sonic screech from an over tired preschooler at the restaurant. And I saw one very nice looking family with 2 very well behaved kids about 4 & 6 very nicely eating their dinner after 10:00 PM.
We go out to eat with our kids all the time. But we're done by 7 or 7:30 at the latest. These poor kids were in for the evening and I just kept wondering why? It's no fun to be in a mall with a miserable kid. Especially late at night.
What am I missing here?
posted by Margaret at 9:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home