January 25, 2010

vacation is what you make of it

I live in a community where everyone complains how expensive everything is.."oh, tuition is so expensive"...but then they do an addition to their house..."camp is so expensive"...and then they lease a pricey automobile..."life is so expensive, I can barely make ends meet..." and then, winter vacation comes, and all of these people who complain about how expensive life is...end up in the bahamas, or on a cruise, or in colorado, or on an african safari, or in the caribbean or on a chartered expedition to the moon...

And that is fine. I don't care how anyone else spends their money-they should all live in good health and do whatever they want...not my business,not my problem. I have my own problems and wouldn't trade with anyone else...

So today, another vacation day where I need to find something for my children to do so they don't spend the whole day at home playing some sort of video game, we decide to go bowling. We pile in the car and take the windy and rainy trip to Bowler City-a mecca of suburban entertainment. We get there, and lo and behold, all of the other po' folk from my community are bowling,,well, they weren't all from my community, I think a couple snuck in from Brooklyn or Monsey or Poland, not sure, but they could've been from Poland...they were speaking yiddish...anyway...so we aren't in the sun and fun-we are going to bowl and we are going to enjoy it. We wait on line while the family in front of us tries to convince the poor guy behind the counter that 10 kids only do need one lane...it will be fine..oy-freakin-vey.

It is finally our turn...the nice man behind the counter hands me a ticket with a number on it and says "wait for us to call you." Huh??? am I in a bakery? no, I am at freakin bowler city and I have to wait to be called.(and after I am called, I can't even order a donut).. I have to wait for Yaakov and his 12 sons to finish bowling so we can have a turn.

This is what is known as adding INSULT to INJURY. Not only am I not with my family on a beach, on a boat, or on the moon, I am waiting to B O W L. But I remained calm with a big smile on my face (one of the kids we were with was not my own and I wanted him to think that I was a happy friendly mom, not a scary psychotic mom) and waited my turn.

We bowled, we laughed, Jonah and Matthew started fighting, Jack needed a drink, I needed a zanax but it was quality family time for less than 50 dollars. So really, who needs the moon? who needs to see lions and tigers in their natural habitat...Bowler City is a habitat all its own.

And now my kids are safe and sound at home....playing with their video games.

Happy Monday!