This Place Blows

Mikias and Jem staying busy waiting for our pizza

It was Columbus Day, but the weather was more like the 4th of July. Kurt was out of town, so  I thought it would be fun to take the boys out for pizza someplace that we could dine outdoors.  We sat out on the deck of Mama Mia's and admired the view of Plymouth harbor. I was looking at the replica of The Maylower and thinking how lucky we are to live close to so much history. The boys sat coloring their placemats and talking to each other. It wasn't that long ago that going out to a restaurant was not so easy. Kurt and I have worked very hard on restaurant manners with the boys. It was clearly paying off. Sitting there with my well behaved boys, I was feeling proud.

It was busy at the restaurant that evening and I looked at my watch to see how long we had been waiting for our food to arrive.  It had been over a half an hour since we ordered.

Mikias noticed me checking my watch and said in a fairly loud voice, "This place blows, huh?"

I gave him the look that begs the question, 'WHAT did you just say?'

He said, " I'm sorry. This place is great. I love their pizza. Their (he pauses searching for the right word) timing blows. They are so slow, right?"

"Mikias, 'blows', when used that way, is not a nice word.  Also, you would say service not timing"

"I knew I said something wrong because you looked all pissed up"

What the heck? "Miki, 'pissed' is also a bad word and it is 'pissed off' not 'pissed up'."

At last our pizza arrived.  We were quietly enjoying our dinner, the October warmth and the beautiful view.

Jem looked up from his meal and said, "I know something you should NEVER say to a person in your family."

He then looked at Mikias and then at me and said with great enthusiasm, "YOU SUCK!"

Mikias and I (and a few surrounding diners) stared at Jem.

Jem said, "That felt awful, right?  That is why we should never say to each other 'YOU SUCK!'  That is not how families talk to each other!  We should make that a rule.  Never say 'YOU SUCK!'  Okay?"

"Okay." Mikias and I agreed

I caught the eye of our waitress, which was easy, since she and all the diners near us were staring at us.

"Check please?"