14 May, 2018

Debrief on The Day that is Not For Us


I thought I’d report back on my Day that is Not For Us plans, as when my husband and I were ushered to our table in the little French restaurant on Saturday evening for his offical (if a day early) birthday dinner, standing next to the table was a man holding a very young child! He had to move for me to take my seat, and then sat down at the table that was next to us, and I immediately said to my husband, “the best laid plans … !”

Then the mother started speaking loudly to the third person at the table about how special mothers are, and continued doing this for the next 20 minutes. I looked at my husband, and we both had to laugh – but don’t worry, I’d done my fair share of eye-rolling prior to this. They left not long after the child gave a deafening screech in my ear, and to be fair to him, the father did apologise to us for disturbing our evening.

The following day we had a lazy, rainy day Sunday morning, picked up lunch to take to the in-laws, and then retreated home for a happy evening with some of my husband’s (and my) favourite Thai food for his birthday dinner, and binge watching a series we had recorded.

Next year I’m not going to plan at all!


Finally, I was congratulating myself about avoiding too many M Day messages … until I woke this (Monday) morning and looked at Fbk, and after seeing several self-congratulatory messages from friends (ranging from Malaysia to the US), I shut down social media for the rest of the day, kicking myself for forgetting that sometimes, being a way ahead of the rest of the world is a curse!

10 comments:

  1. I think you handled it extremely well! I don’t know if I would have done as well as you did given the woman’s conversation, but it also sounds like the child had a similar opinion of being self-congratulatory.

    Go enjoy a social media-free Monday.

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  2. Ah yes, time differences and social media, I can imagine. (I just sent a welcome home message to my aunt and uncle, only to hear they were just in Singapore on the way back from your lovely country)

    Also, speaking loudly in a little restaurant seems inconsiderate, no matter the subject.

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  3. Aaaaaaa, the universe kicked you in the shins! Go figure you have those neighbors at the restaurant. I stay off Facebook for another day after Mother's Day, because those posts just keep on coming in my feed. I'm sorry you were suckerpunched by time zones! And ha, we both had Thai on Mother's Day.

    Well, it overall sounded pretty good all things considered, and maybe next year will be free of screaming children and braggy mommys!

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  4. Yup... a difficult day. You did well. Facebook was a bombardment of mumsiness posts for me which I did find a little irritating, but there were some thoughtful posts about more complicated situations for people on mother's day sprinkled in the mix... somehow this year, I wasn't really triggered at all. I think not making plans is a good idea... excepy maybe scheduling a massage (worked for me!)

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  5. Some twists and turns aside, sounds like a nice couple of days.

    Happy Birthday to the hubs.

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  6. I'm glad it wasn't too terrible. But that restaurant.....

    You were wise to avoid social media. That is my goal for next year.

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  7. You are a far better person than I. I'd probably have 'accidentally' spilled a glass of ice water all over the table with the "special" mother! :)

    Glad you were able to have some nice times amidst the reminders.

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  8. I wonder if there's a market for restaurants to have an Alternative Zone for holildays like Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc. Kind of like the no-smoking sections we used to have here in the US.

    I like NotMyLinesYet's idea.

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    Replies
    1. Hmmm. I'm not sure about that, as being in the same restaurant would be a bit too close for comfort, emphasising that we are other, emphasising what we don't have. Though I'm sure many childfree people would be thankful for a childfree restaurant zone. (I would be any other day of the year.)

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  9. Well, at least the dad apologized...! Glad you were still able to see the humour in the situation!

    Onward...!

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