Saturday, January 17, 2009

Curbing My Addiction

A typical outing when I have my two kids (while my wife is at work) is to go to Barnes and Noble bookstore.  It's a great outing for everyone in the group.  The first stop is the Starbucks connected to the bookstore.  My day instantly gets better with my large coffee and the three of us split a muffin.  

We then venture into the children's books section where we have a routine.  We go to the section where they have the books that make music.  There is a lot of button pressing, noise making, and pulling books off the shelves so that Daddy can pick them up.  We then find the alphabet books and spend about 15 minutes there.  Eventually, we all get bored and decide to leave.  Sometimes, the B & N becomes the site of a tantrum when it's clear to the kids that our home book collection will not be increasing in size that day.

On one particular day last Fall, both of my kids wanted to be carried to the car as it was pouring rain.  I don't always give in to this, but I chose to avoid a toddler meltdown on that day.  I was just glad that we escaped the book section without incident and wanted to keep the momentum going.  Unfortunately, I couldn't carry both kids, our bag bursting with kid gear and snacks, an umbrella, and my coffee.  We stood outside on the sidewalk and under the awning for a moment while I considered my options.

It was clear that I would have to leave the coffee behind.  But, the Venti was half-full and it was an essential element to my future (at least the next eight hours).  I placed the coffee down on the sidewalk by the curb, picked up the kids and gear and ran for the car with my umbrella poised only semi-effectively over us.  I briefly felt guilty about the littering, but believed that I had an excusable motive.  In court, my friends and family would attest to my coffee addiction which would confirm that I was thinking irrationally at the time and thereby securing my temporary insanity defense.

Once in the car and buckled in, we were ready. Except I was disappointed about my coffee.  We started to pull out of the parking area and while waiting to turn right, I glanced left and saw my coffee on the curb.  I quickly changed my turn signal from right to left and peeled out of the parking lot.  I pulled up to the curb, jumped out, ran around the car, grabbed my coffee, ran back to my seat, and jumped in.  And it was totally worth it.

No comments: