Saturday, March 19, 2011

Realizations

I have been in Vegas all week. I hate leaving Chandler, I know he misses me. He acts different at school, he asks Grandma "Mom? Mom?" and its hard. I was so excited to see him that even though it was his dad's weekend, I picked him up for lunch. I brought Luke, and we went to the Pizza Ranch. I was nervous seeing the parking lot because it was full, and busy restaurants are tough, but at noon on a Saturday what choice did we have? He didn't get upset at all walking in saying "Pizza! Pizza!" We found a table in a back corner with just one table behind us, and about 5 surrounding us. One family was getting up to leave. We got our food from the buffett, and Chandler was happy to see pepperoni, and vanilla pudding. He was quite "flappy" and of course its because he hasn't seen me in a few days combined with the music playing a little more loudly than normal. One family walked toward the empty table, and as the mother carrying her baby saw Chandler jumping and squealing, she steered her husband back to the busy middle of the restaurant. Chew. chew. chew. Along comes an elderly couple who choose the table behind us. She sits down with her soda, and as Chandler's pizza touches his pudding, and he spits out a bite and cries. One tiny little outburst, as if to say, MOM! Seriously? I send Luke to get new pizza, and the woman whispers to her husband and they are off to find another seat. After twenty minutes, this super packed restaurant has one empty wing. We are like an island. My eyes were filled with tears, and I look over at Chandler happily munching his fourth pack of saltines because the pizza sucks now, and my very keen teenager says "Mom, I noticed too, and its okay." He smiled, and shrugged. In my head I stood up and yelled "What the hell is wrong with you assholes?! He's not a freak. He's my SON! And he's wonderful. He likes art, and cars, and music. His name is Chandler." But it is because of my teenager, that I hold my head back up and continue with the meal.