Value meal
We just got back from a three-day trip to Moab, Utah. Moab is a little desert town near a couple national parks, and it's one of our favorite places in the state. It's the first time we took both boys down there, and aside from a little car trouble, it was a fun trip. But perhaps the best part for me didn't involve any hiking or scenery, or even just getting away. No, the best part happened at Wendy's on the drive back.
It's about a 3 1/2-hour drive from Moab back to SLC, and we were planning to push through without stopping, but the boys were getting crabby after a busy trip, so we stopped at a Wendy's about halfway home. For those of you without kids, going to a restaurant with two kids under 4 is an adventure, putting it mildly. But amazingly, this turned out to be the most non-eventful meal out we've had with the boys yet. Note I didn't say quiet, we don't expect that, but it was just ... fun. Maybe our expectations were lower because it was just fast food or because it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to stay, yet we had fun. While Wife was ordering food, Eldest kept me at bay so he could "pick out the perfect table." Once we found one, we sat down, the boys ate and weren't crabby, and we got the break we needed before finishing our trek home.
At one point of the meal, I needed to get another spoon (these urgencies happen with kids), and as I was walking back to the table, there was my family, eating dinner and enjoying themselves. I had to smile, because for those few seconds as I walked back, I realized, this is my family, and that perhaps I was the luckiest person in the world. That was the best part of the trip. And the best part of the best part is I can experience that every day, I just have to remind myself to recognize it among the mundane moments of life as well as the memorable ones.
It's about a 3 1/2-hour drive from Moab back to SLC, and we were planning to push through without stopping, but the boys were getting crabby after a busy trip, so we stopped at a Wendy's about halfway home. For those of you without kids, going to a restaurant with two kids under 4 is an adventure, putting it mildly. But amazingly, this turned out to be the most non-eventful meal out we've had with the boys yet. Note I didn't say quiet, we don't expect that, but it was just ... fun. Maybe our expectations were lower because it was just fast food or because it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to stay, yet we had fun. While Wife was ordering food, Eldest kept me at bay so he could "pick out the perfect table." Once we found one, we sat down, the boys ate and weren't crabby, and we got the break we needed before finishing our trek home.
At one point of the meal, I needed to get another spoon (these urgencies happen with kids), and as I was walking back to the table, there was my family, eating dinner and enjoying themselves. I had to smile, because for those few seconds as I walked back, I realized, this is my family, and that perhaps I was the luckiest person in the world. That was the best part of the trip. And the best part of the best part is I can experience that every day, I just have to remind myself to recognize it among the mundane moments of life as well as the memorable ones.
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