I Spy with My Little Eye.

I almost was done with my shift, so I was walking back and forth from the kitchen doing side work. The shift was average, mostly slow and I was ready to get out of there and go home. As I looked over and checked in with the hostess, she said that I was officially "cut" and so I approached my last table with a smile.

Going through my usual introduction, it was apparent this mom and two kids were ready to order. Especially the younger one.

"Did you want me to get you started with some food for the kids?" I turned to the mom and smiled as she asked me for the kid's menu list. When I listed it off, I saw the 6-year-olds face light up. I realized quickly that this was a special occasion. Taking her order (Chicken Nuggets all the way!) and the 11-year-old's order(burger with lettuce, tomato and pickles! "we have a whole jar at home! I love them!"), I gave the mom a few minutes to consider something for herself.

The next time I went up to the table, the mom ordered a burger with fries. When I asked if they wanted something to drink, she started asking money questions. After a few "how much is this?" and "how much is that?," she apologized saying, "I'm just trying to figure what I have enough for." Running over to the computer with a skip in my step, I enjoyed the interaction with this mother. Some servers might be annoyed that this lady was not going to be a high-spender. They might have already sluffed her off as someone to not pay attention to. As I went back to the table, I knew that I could do the same thing. But, I could see the joy in the kid's faces.

After getting their food and leaving them to their dinner, I only approached the table again when it looked like the kids were getting antsy. The 6-year-old immediately got up from the table.

"So, what is that?"

"What?"

"The thing over there..."

"Honey, you're going to have to be more specific, can you show me what you're talking about?"

Moving off of the patio into the restaurant, I asked mom to make sure it was okay that I followed her alone. She nodded.

The door opened and the young girl already walking inside, she continued to point. "What's that?" I still had no idea what she was talking about and it didn't become clear. But then, I joked with her, "Are we playing a game?"

Seeing in her eyes that she had decided right then to play, she said "YES!"

So I continued to endulge in the game of "I Spy."

"I Spy with My Little Eye...something....red!"

We returned outside and me and the girls each played a few rounds of I Spy while mom finished her dinner. This is when I figured out how old the girls were. They started talking about school and the sight words that the youngest was learning. The older boasted of her spelling tactics and I asked her if she could spell "Supercalifragilisticexpilidocious" (which I can't even spell!). The mom laughed, having finished her burger, and reminded the girl that they had worked on that one last year. She boldly spelled and mom chuckled, teasing her saying, "You allllmosssst got it." Exposing the fact that I used to be a kindergarten teacher to the mom and kids, they said, "No wonder you're so good with kids." I smiled and remembered the days of having cute kids around me every day.

When I finally got the bill for them and they were on their way out, I knew the tip wouldn't be very much. To me, it didn't matter because I got the reminder that kids are amazing.

Someday soon, I hope to have more in my life.

#restaurantconnections #kids #gameswithkids #experiencing #eating #livinglifetothefullest #inspiring #takelifeasitcomes