That Still Small Voice

I should have listened to that still small voice in the back of my brain. I knew that we’ve eaten out way to much lately and that I should just take them home and make hotdogs or mac-n-cheese or something. But the “norm”, unfortunately, has become that when Daddy is not going to be home for dinner, we go out.

I heard that voice in the back of my head nagging at me all the way to the daycare but when we got in the car, I sighed, “do you want to go to Mickey D’s?” One little voice said, “YEAH!”. One little voice whined, “No!”. That nagging voice in my head, said, “Go home!”. But on we went and after much deliberation on the children’s parts, we decided to go to Burger King. They have Spiderman toys. Sara wants chicken fries. I ate there for lunch so I didn’t care, chicken fries sounded as good as anything to me.

I park, coax, no wait, plead the children out of the van. They are all excited about Spiderman toys and chicken fries. I walk up to the register and there is it…….the sign…….”Cash only”. What??? What is this “cash”? I don’t know what it looks like. What do you use it for? I live in a plastic world. I use my debit card for everything. I never carry cash! I jumped great leaps of joy when the fast food industry joined us in the ranks of the 21st century and started accepting plastic! I was at a loss. I drug two children whining about Spiderman toys and chicken fries back out to the van while trying to explain that I didn’t have this “cash” and we would have to go elsewhere. Envision lots of whining and lamenting in the back seat.

So next idea was to go to Wendy’s. That still small voice in my head is getting louder now, “This Wendy’s food is awful and the service is terrible, go home!”. But the children drowned it out so off we went. We walk in, no signs, so far so good. Only one person in front of us. Cool. Children have miraculously decided on what they wanted to eat. Could I be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? Ah, but wait. The man’s order isn’t right, the cashier can’t find the right buttons on the register. The drinks are wrong……that should be a kid’s meal………where are my fries? (The light is getting closer now!) Finally, the man in front of me is done—I guesstimate about 10 mins has elapsed. I place my order. I kid you not, it took no less than 5 minutes for this guy to ring in 2 kid’s meals and a combo and another 10 minutes to get the food (What's that noise?). And the coup de grace was they forgot Scott’s yogurt which sent him into a whining fit so bad that I braved the trip back to the register to get it (The engine is thundering inside my head and the voice is screaming........"I told you so!").

So next time that voice starts to whisper in my head, maybe I should stop and listen to it. And always keep a supply of mac-n-cheese in the cupboard.