Birthday Lunches --

I don’t remember when it started, I’m sure it was my wife’s idea. But when each of our elementary school kids had a birthday I would take them out of school and go to lunch. This was one of their favorite things, not only did they get to chose whatever kind of food they wanted but they also got to miss a little school. When they went into the sixth grade and entered middle school it became a little harder so that’s when it ended. That was Ok since I always had another child to take their place.

Where we ate was their idea – and after a few suggestions they would make the final decision. This was a pretty safe assignment since they always chose between a couple of alternatives. Usually it boiled down to only two different places – a Chinese restaurant or a local pizza joint. They both have a luncheon special that included more food then they would want to eat, which made it so I got a little extra. This all changed last month when our youngest daughter had her eleventh birthday. Next year she is going to middle school and I’m going to have to go to lunch by myself. So this was going to be my last hurrah – like had happened many times before she chose the pizza place.

Now that she’s a little older she figured out you could skip the salad and get two pieces of garlic bread instead. No extra food for me, oh well it’s not like I needed it. This place has become a birthday favorite; I’ve gone there with all of the kids at least once. But this time something happened that had never happened before. As we were finishing up our dinner an elderly couple approached us, the man addressed my daughter and said “ Isn’t it great that your grandfather is taking you out to lunch.” She turned and looked at me with that look – what am I supposed to say? I said, “Yes it’s her birthday.” After they left I explained that there was no reason to make them feel bad – even if they already made me feel bad. Like I’ve said in a number of my stories, I look a little older than I am. Now if I look ten years older than I am and our oldest child is twenty-five. I guess it’s completely possible that I could have an eleven-year-old grandchild. I’ve had things like this happen so many times that it really doesn’t bother me.

It did get me to start thinking a bit; maybe if I live old enough I could continue this tradition when I do have grandchildren in school. That would be pretty cool, of course there’s a couple of possible problems. One is that they may not live close enough to do it and even then it’s at least six years away, since I don’t have any grandchildren yet. I guess it boils down to the fact that it’s not only one of our kids favorite thing's - it's one of mine as well.