This is the life

I remember making an emergency trip to Target once on a Saturday night in search of vacuum cleaner bags. I must have been in my mid-20s at the time. I got to the store and realized I'd forgotten my billfold at home, so I had to drive back to my apartment, grab my wallet and return to finally make the needed purchase. As I walked back to my car with vacuum bags at last in hand, I recall thinking, "I thought being a grown up would be a lot more fun."

Last night those thoughts crossed my mind again.

Friday night. Middle of July. Youthful, rose-colored visions would have placed me lounging on a deck overlooking Lake Superior, surrounded by husband and close friends, laughing and enjoying dinner and drinks. Silly, silly dreams.

Reality is Jeff needed to nap in between his regular day shift and a special late night shift, and so to ensure he had a quiet house in which to sleep, I decided to take AJ and Sydney out to eat. Sealing my fate, I allowed them to choose the restaurant. Which meant our dinner plans for this Friday evening in the middle of summer were determined by which Happy Meal toy AJ wanted most. Transformers got the vote, so off to Burger King we went.

During the drive, I questioned AJ if the Transformer promotion was still going on. He assured me it was. He saw the commercials, and they teach him things he told me.

Walking into the restaurant, I couldn't help but notice I was in the minority. That is, I was one of very few females, and one of only two people over the approximate age of 17. I've read numerous advertising industry magazines that talk about how Burger King has decided to target the younger male demographic. Clearly, their strategy is working.

So we placed our order and found an open table amid a sea of mostly teenage boys. It was as we opened the Happy Meal bags that we made the horrible discovery. (You knew something has to go wrong, otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it.) This Burger King had run out of Transformer toys, substituting instead a silly Pokemon game.

I got the kids settled and busy eating and then walked over to get ketchup, napkins, etc. As I filled my glass with pop, I suddenly heard AJ's voice from across the restaurant, "Mom! Can you ask them if they have any more Transformer toys?" Apparently my explanation of "these things happen," wasn't satisfactory to him.

Back at the table, we continued eating. For AJ, all joy had left the meal. Though at one point he perked up enough to ask, "Mommy, want to sing 'I'm a little teapot?'"

Do I know how to spend a wild Friday night, or what?

As we were finishing our meal, I commented, "I think it would have been better to go to McDonald's."

With surprising contriteness, AJ answered, "Yup. I'm sorry for this."

There was one person at the restaurant likely having less fun than I was. Remember the other adult I saw? Turns out she was a chaperon. She walked over to the tables of teens, and I overheard her say to her oh-so-receptive audience, "Don't forget to go to the bathroom before you get back on the bus."

I guess I should be grateful I only had two kids to watch. And on a brighter note, at least this Burger King had a small play area.

Playing with Duplo blocks at a Burger King on Friday night. Somehow I thought being a grown-up would be a lot more fun.