My birthday was Monday. The night before, we went to a favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza restaurant in a hole-in-the-wall town near the lake house to celebrate. No one offered to seat us, so we finally sat down at a table ourselves. No one around us had any pizza and had obviously been sitting there a long time. The waitresses ignored us, never bothering to give us menus or take a drink order. My son saw a mouse (correction: either one very fast mouse or several mice, he wasn't entirely sure which) several times in a hallway next to my husband's seat. One of the waitresses, after visiting the other tables and promising their pizza would be ready soon, actually RAN INTO MY SON'S SHOULDER and STILL didn't stop to take our order. My husband went to get one after half an hour (it really is good pizza or we wouldn't have still been there) and finally got our pizza ordered and drinks delivered to the table. After an hour, still no pizza (although the waitress had assured us it wouldn't be long, as most of the people in the other dining room had gotten mad and left, leaving more time for the cook to make ours). At one hour and fifteen minutes of waiting for pizza, and an hour and forty-five minutes after arriving at the restaurant, my husband went to talk to the waitresses, the cooks, and a disinterested manager, stomped back to us, announcing, "This is bullshit!" and we left. No birthday dinner.
It was my first birthday in 56 years without my mom. If I wasn't WITH my mom on my birthday, she would call me, and either way, without fail, she would tell me how x number of years ago, she was in HELL until she finally delivered 10 lb., 1 ounce baby me. It was a running family joke (although at the time, I don't think it was very funny). Oh, how I missed that story this year!
Preschool started this week, and let me tell you, it has exhausted me! By Wednesday afternoon, I thought it was going to kill me, and I fully believe my death certificate would have listed "preschool" as my cause of death.
I wrote a pretty decent Six Sentence Story and was putting the final touches on it when *poof* Blogger ate it and there was no recovering it (and believe me, I tried EVERYTHING and have the search history to prove it). I wanted to cry.
My daughter was cyber-bullied this week. A girl she knew copied a couple of pictures she had posted on Instagram and made a not very nice comment about her, and posted it on Twitter Friday afternoon, and even though she had cropped the picture and didn't show my daughter's face, if you knew her at all, you knew it was her (she was in her volleyball uniform in both pictures).
I got hit in the back of the head with a volleyball at a tournament Saturday. The back. Of the head. And I was sitting on a mezzanine about ten feet ABOVE the volleyball court.
Ten Things of Thankful don't always just jump out at you after a week like this.
So I searched. Here goes:
1. My birthday was Monday! I'm a year older! That beats the alternative.
2. I wrote a scathing review on TripAdvisor about the pizza restaurant, and that made me feel a little better about having my birthday dinner ruined.
3. My husband promised to get me a new laptop for my birthday.
4. My dear friend Ruth sent me an article about facing your first birthday without your mom. I tried to find a link for it, but I can't locate one, so I am posting the picture of the newspaper clipping that Ruth sent me instead. You'll want to read it.
5. I'm carrying out the suggestion in the article that says to buy yourself a present. Stay tuned for that one.
6. While the first two days of classes nearly killed me, the second two weren't quite as tough. I forget from year to year how HARD it is to start out a new school year with very small people, but in a week or two, they will "get" it and be model students (she said hopefully).
7. On losing the Six Sentence story... nah, I've got nothing. That just sucked.
8. My daughter was alerted to the cyber-bullying by a boy she's known since kindergarten, one of several boys she's been friends with since she was little and who always have her back. I am grateful she has that kind of support system.
9. My daughter went to her volleyball coach about the situation, and her coach took the necessary steps to get something done about it. I'm extremely grateful that the coach handled it quickly, and I am hopeful this will be the end of it all.
10. The volleyball team didn't do great at the tournament (their own fault; they didn't play well until they got into bracket play), but they did get 5th place, and I got a couple of good photos of my daughter serving the ball:
Look hard. Look deep. There are thankfuls everywhere.
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FRIST!
ReplyDeleteThat felt good. I haven't commented, let alone been first to do so, in a loooooong time.
DeleteWhat a craptastic week. I hate it for all of you. Especially about the first birthday without your mom. That had to be very difficult.
I'm glad, though a bit shocked, that the volleyball coach did something about the bullying. Why? Why are those girls so hateful?!?
No pizza is worth an hour and a half wait. Can't imagine that place will be in business much longer.
Those little people just need some training, as you know. This week will be a bit easier, for sure. Those first days are exhausting though!
FRIST! I had no idea that birthday was going to be so hard until it happened.
DeleteThe pizza wasn't worth that long of a wait, but once you've invested a certain amount of time, you hate to give up.
You know, you go from the end of the year when you've got these little people all trained and reasonably self-sufficient and then you start all over again with a new group. Vicious cycle.
I can't believe you were waiting out mice for pizza. I have put a house on the market after seeing a single mouse. Just can't do it. They creep me out.
ReplyDeleteI am so sick of our mean culture. Cyber or regular bullying, I am sick of it!
And facing your birthday without your mom. It is a big deal, isn't it? I don't care how old you are. It stinks. Hugs to you. Rodent- free- timely pizza to you. A kinder culture to you! Happy birthday to you!!!!
My son kept looking just past my husband and down, and we finally asked him he said he thought he saw a mouse but wasn't sur--yep, that's a mouse. It was the beginning of the end.
DeleteHoping the whole cyber bullying thing is over and done with. She'll be done with high school and all that goes with it in 8 short months.
I had no idea what a big deal that birthday was going to be. Thank you!
Wow, after a week like that I'd say did amazing with your thankfuls! It never seems to fail that when you are trying to celebrate something special, that's when the restaurant is going to screw it up. I think you should get a redo at another place this coming week! I also totally applaud the concept of buying a gift for yourself. We don't celebrate ourselves often enough as far as I'm concerned. I know your Mom will be smiling when you do! I am relieved the cyber-bullying issue got handling quickly and that your daughter has a friend in her corner, what's with kids these days doing that kind of crap anyway? Cheers to her for looking so good at the volleyball game, and to your great photo capture. Blogger seems to be excelling at zapping posts and comments these days, it is so frustrating!! Copy often and write us up a great one for "Bark"! Happy school year, you make all the difference in those little ones lives!
ReplyDeleteI wish that place didn't have such good pizza! You should read my review on Trip Advisor. No holds barred.
DeleteI'm currently shopping for my gift for myself. I will post it on facebook as soon as it happens....
Girls can be so vicious! Why? Why? Why?
Most of my volleyball pics are blurry, because I seem to move the camera as she moves. Lucked out on these!
I wish I knew what happened exactly to make that post disappear. I could have tried to recreate it, but it was already so late and I just didn't have it in me. I'll see what I can do with "bark"!
of course there are thankfuls...always are.
ReplyDeletethe article was quite touching its amazing how these gifts come to you when you need it the most. you have a good friend.
i'm glad to hear that your daughter handled the situation and hope it hasn't effected her much.
you know i love pizza in fact its the one food that i eat everyday if I had to make choice; it would be pizza - oh how happy i am that you left that pizzeria - eww and how rude.
happy birthday again - i hope you buy something for yourself that you love with all your heart!
hang in there ...there are 104 days till Christmas LOL :)
I would TOTALLY eat pizza every. single. day. if I could. Still mad that I didn't get any that night.
DeleteOh, I'm going to get that present!
Wow.just wow. Oh and nice job getting through that week!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even mention that I started working in the studio for the photographer I work for part time, so I had THAT taxing my brain as well. I'm too old to learn new shit.
DeleteI can't even begin to think about that first birthday. I know the first without my Grandmother was difficult for my mom and for all of us. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us here. We love you. <3
ReplyDeleteBullies suck and I'm so sorry that happened to your beautiful girl. Glad the coach got on it, though!
Mice and pizza...made me laugh because when the Hub and Zilla try to convince me to get pizza, they do this little bit where they say there's a mouse under the table saying he wants pizza for dinner and that is wasn't them who said "pizza" in the very cute voices when I ask what they want to have. Guess it's better in person...oh well. :D
It didn't occur to me that my birthday was going to be hard. Christmas may be, too, but last year, my mom was so cuckoo with her concussion that it was practically like she wasn't there. I decorated their house (the mantle, mostly), found the stockings and bought stocking stuffers for everyone and took care of the dinner.
DeleteA couple of the bullies friends are causing a little trouble. Can't decide if I want to alert the principal about it or not, but I'm considering it.
Your mice asking for pizza are much cuter than the ones running loose in the restaurant!
Perhaps the cook and kitchen staff had been tied up by the robbers planning to rob the place but they hadn't counted on such a busy evening and had to make pizza to avoid the customers getting suspicious. Or the cook got roaring drunk and the wait staff was trying to step up and make pizzas. That doesn't account for the mice though.
ReplyDeleteYour daughter looks like a dancer as she serves the ball. Beautiful. Fie on bullies of all kinds.
The kitchen staff was fighting with each other and both of them were fighting with the wait staff and bottom line was THE MICE GOT MORE PIZZA THAN I DID.
DeleteFunny you noticed that, because she danced for years and years before she gave it up three years ago for volleyball (and show choir and school plays and life). I've always loved the way she kicks her foot up in the back when she serves. You can take the girl out of dance class, but you can't take the dance out of the girl.
pizza and mice?
ReplyDeletea new computer is always a good thing
all of us feel your pain on the 'write a story, lose the story'.... ayiiee, one of the worst things to happen
HB yo
Probably never getting our pizza kept us from getting bubonic plague or something.
DeleteIT WAS A REALLY GOOD STORY, TOOOOO.
Happy belated birthday. I'm sorry it was such a rough one. I hope this week that dinners arrive on time, students are adorable and well-behaved, and that everyone can just get along.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It was hard to be happy, even with Krispy Kreme doughtnuts, but I'm better now.
DeleteHappy birthday! Sorry the celebration didn't go as planned. Great job finding 10 things in the midst of such a tough week.
ReplyDeleteI can see where there was no silver lining to losing the six sentence story. I'm putting together a digital photo book of our recent family vacation and my laptop had some major issues and "recovered" itself. I held my breath the entire time thinking I was about to lose my book (which is up to 120 pages and has taken me a solid two weeks of work - it was a big family vacation). I was SO relieved when I was able to access it after the recovery.
It is the absolute worst to lose something you've worked hard on. It's happened to me a few times with my posts but fortunately only in the early stages. I'd be heartbroken if it was after it was done. So sorry.
WeekendsInMaine
Thanks! I'm all about finding the silver lining, although I really had to dig, and there was none for losing that Six Sentence Story. ARRRGGGHHH!!! Glad you didn't lose your vacation book - that would have been MUCH worse than losing a story!
DeleteHappy Birthday. Finding the gratitude in your week is a great way to feel better about less than stellar situations in life. Emma looks like a natural athlete - beautiful. Sad that jealousy brings out meanness in friends. Hope your Preschool year goes well.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Val. Preschool is always interesting no matter how a year goes - you never know what they'll say or do. And I think Emma is a better athlete because of all those years of dance. Even when she's diving for a ball, she looks graceful!
DeleteDavid and I had Mexican food the next night, but I still have an unsatisfied craving for pizza...
ReplyDeleteMean girls wasn't just a movie; they really exist.
Hoping the present is found very soon!
You are correct. Even when it gets difficult, losing a loved one or bad customer service, from the huge to the not so huge, in the grand scheme of things. Yes, there are always thankfuls. Good work in locating them. Does sound like a bit of a rough week though. I can't imagine being in charge of so many so small children. My nephew just completed his first full week of junior kindergarten and I kind of wonder how that worked, for him, the other kids, and the adults in charge of that classroom.
ReplyDelete:-)
What a birthday dinner you had. At least you tried to have it. Must have been pretty amazing pizza, but how does any restaurant or business manage with management like you describe? I don't get it.
I hope things for your daughter ease up now. I can't even imagine having had social media when I was in school. Girls can be cruel. It's great to have those friends who are always there to rely on in times like these.
Life and your first birthday without your mother. Difficult stuff and I'm sorry and happy birthday. A new laptop does sound nice. Think I'm getting one of those myself in the near future.