Opa! Or... How Rhys Was Introduced to Greek Food

In the course of ripping our house up today (in the name of improving it), we decided to take a well-deserved break and go out to get something to fill our famished stomachs. The boys fought us on going to this little Greek restaurant, Pyramids, which by the way, is right in our neighborhood and so conveniently located to our house that I insisted they go. I won them over by telling them it was an all-you-can-eat buffet, and the desserts were like none they had tried before.

Of course, I insisted they try the lamb. Neither of them had taken lamb onto their plates, but like the dutiful mother that I am, I cut a piece or two off the precious bits I had on my plate and said "EAT!!!" Mind you, these are not children I'm chiding. These are grown men, 23 and 20 years of age. They looked at me as if to say, "if we don't try this, she will nag us into oblivion", which, I'm sorry to say, would be the truth. Fortunately, they loved the lamb. We went through the buffet, like kids on a playground, trying each new thing and quickly discarding it to taste the next. It would have been a perfectly delightful experience... but then... evil in the form of a screaming child came in the door.

At first, we tried not to pay any attention to this monster. But after a short period of time, during which we were trying not to choke on our food, I turned casually to see if I could find the source of the trouble and give a glaring eye to Satan's parents. I forced back a smile when I saw his young mother, draped in a Middle Eastern headwrap and her husband (very non-descript to me, I'm sorry to say), attempting to make the unruly monster sit down and eat dinner. But the tirade continued. It seems that the creature wanted to play the video games that were in the restaurant (on the other side of the wall from where we were sitting, but still within piercing earshot) and made no bones about letting the world know that he was going to get what he wanted. To our sons' stunned looks and comments about child-rearing, Steve and I shared our experiences that entailed the times we had to remove them from whatever restaurant we had gone to, due to their tantrums. Yes, my angelic children were once brats. When they asked how we stood it, I merely said, "I beat it out of you." Jason replied, "thank you". I smiled a mother's satisfied smile.

We went on with our meal, but after one especially ear-splitting shreik, I said to my family, "I wouldn't be allowed to live after that one". The young mother must have heard my comment, because she finally got up and told her child that he could play the game later, but he had to eat now. The demon's reply was, "but I like that game, Momma". She won the battle after allowing a few more volleys of "no, you eat" and "but I want to play the game". At one point, she even stuck something in the child's mouth to his gruesome protests. I couldn't help but laugh. I was remembering the time when we had gone to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and a young girl was running back and forth between the tables. I followed her with my eyes, and gave her a more glaring look each time she passed within inches of our water glasses. The child made the mistake of pausing briefly while looking me in the eyes, and with the voice of authority, I said "go sit DOWN!" Her mother shot daggers at me during the rest of our meal and their exit, to which I say if you don't want ME to parent your child, then YOU do it! But I digress...

The rest of the meal went smoothly and we tried the various desserts. After a new plateful of delicacies and a bowl of lentil soup, Rhys confidently proclaimed that he had had enough and he would enjoy visiting that establishment again. Got him!

There's that satisfied smile again.

Nazdrovie'

Paczki Puta