October 6, 2026
Since Margaret and I retired the little woman rarely ventures outside the house when the word Walmart doesn’t fall into the sentence. Other than a jaunt down to the local movie theater every month or so, my wife seldom embarks on any kind of out of the house activities. So when Margaret wandered into my office last week and asked me, “Do you have any plans for Saturday?” two things came to mind. We were either babysitting the youngest grandkid Legend or going out to eat with her daughter’s family. Well, on that particular Saturday, we were doing both!
The last few times we’ve had the pleasure of babysitting such involved the four-legged, fury grandkids. So I was kind of excited to see eight-year-old Legend when he came out to greet me in my front yard. I could find comfort in the fact that Legend wouldn’t be trying to bite me as my step-daughter’s poodle had a few weeks ago, but now that I think about it, that kid has sunk his teeth into me once or twice over the years. This day when Legend bounded out into the yard, he was far more interested in how big of a hole he could dig in my front yard than he was in biting me. As we pondered over what movie we wanted to go see at the local theater the kid suddenly cried out, “I’m supposed to be at a birthday party!” Indeed, Legend had been invited to some little boy’s party at Urban Air, and he was just remembering it. Since we didn’t have time to go buy the six-year-old birthday kid a proper birthday present, Margaret just stuffed a bunch of cash into a card and called it good. How much cash? I was afraid to ask, especially after Legend made the comment, “He’s going to think he’s rich!” Okay, that’s never a good sign.
Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park is a regular Mecca concerning kid birthday parties, and there must have been at least eight going on for the Saturday afternoon. I had no clue who I was looking for when we wandered into the place, but like a blood hound hot on a trail Legend found his party. The birthday kid’s mother was a young lady who looked like she’d rather be at home on the couch watching TV, but I’ve got to respect these parents’ efforts. Planning out these parties is probably a pain in the neck! Even though I terribly mispronounced the lady’s name, she gave me a cupcake anyway. It even had a nifty Spider Man ring on it. Apparently, Legend didn’t know this little boy from school, but the birthday kid’s dad claimed that the two boys knew each other from playing video games together. Gee, I never got to make friends through video games when I was a kid. But then again, how many friends can you make from playing Pong? If I recall, that was the only video game we had back in those days.
Because kids have to have special socks to play at Urban Air, I hung onto Legend’s shoes and socks the entire time we were there. However, when I gave the socks back to him the kid lost them in a matter of seconds. Launching into search mode, I asked the eight-year-old where he had ventured in the last thirty seconds so we could retrace his steps. His answer, of course, was, “I don’t know.” Okay, that worked for me. At least now I could tell Margaret that I had put forth a little effort in trying to find Legend’s socks. My mom would have searched for hours.
Once we got back home, only a few minutes ticked by until we were heading off to town again! My youngest granddaughter Nadia was turning 19, and we were heading down to the Texas Roadhouse for a little family socializing and ribeye bonding. Legend had no interest in going to the steakhouse and just wanted to be left in the car so he could play with my phone. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, so we drug him into the restaurant. Texas folks like their steaks and the place was packed with loud and proud carnivores, special emphasis on the loud part! I’ve seen mosh pits that were easier to walk through than that place was for the Saturday evening. However, after we had basically explored every nook and cranny of the place and Margaret had blurted out the proper number of “f” and “s” curse words we found Nadia’s party, such as it was. The party was basically a dinner with Nadia’s parents Justin and Monica, her sister Harley, and a couple of friends.
My stepdaughter Monica made some comment regarding my last video I had posted on Facebook which was basically a free style rap regarding how I was “gelling” with my new gel bicycle seat. Margaret just looked at me in mere confusion. She’s usually clueless of my social media posts, and that tends to work out the best for both of us. For the evening though, we were focusing on food! Nadia’s father Justin is what we call a “steak and potatoes” kind of guy. He won’t touch anything green and thinks all things pasta and seafood are just plain icky! Okay, that’s just freaking weird, but I’m not one to judge. Actually, as far as food goes, I am judgmental, and that’s just freaking weird! However, everyone seemed to be in good spirits for the day, especially Nadia’s parents Monica and Justin. Indeed, those two monstrous margaritas they were slurping down might have had something to do with their good mood. Wait a minute! Aren’t margaritas a light shade of lime green? I suppose Justin’s no green rule came with exceptions. Me personally, I was sticking with water for the evening. I had donated blood that morning, and one of the big rules for giving blood is NO BOOZE FOR THE DAY!
I hadn’t seen the oldest granddaughter Harley in a while, and she was there with her friend Julie. This girl I had seen several times in the past, but the girl who Nadia had brought along was new. I had never met this girl, but apparently her and Nadia were going to college together. I always felt a bit weird talking to the girls’ female friends when they were all young tweens and teens, but now everyone at the table was eighteen and over (except for Legend) so I could now freely chat away! The young lady seemed friendly enough, and Nadia and her were all bubbly about their first few weeks of college life. Yes, these two young ladies were giving me the lowdown of college life in 2026, and I was throwing in what I remembered about college life from 1986. Some things are completely different now, but then again, some things remain the same. The one thing that really seemed to be the same was the fact that I still enjoy talking to college girls. Why change a good thing?
The fact that I could talk to anyone was pretty amazing because that restaurant was carrying the noise level of a fighter jet! Apparently, EVERYONE was having a birthday that week, and the serving staff was going hoarse from their constant duty of belting out the routine birthday cheer which seemed to have no end! Because this was a rootin’ tootin’ steak place, the restaurant has a saddle that the happy birthday people can sit on while everyone sings to them. Although nineteen-year-old Nadia was celebrating a birthday, she basically threatened the life of anyone who was going to make her sit on that blessed birthday saddle!
While everyone at our table seemed to be having a great evening of family socializing, Legend never looked up from my phone. Darn kids. However, Legend’s anti-social attitude was the least of my worries. I find it strange how I don’t’ remember what I ordered at the restaurant, but I do remember what I didn’t get. Both Margaret and I decided to splurge a bit and order mushrooms with our steak, but apparently the waitstaff didn’t deem me mushroom worthy. Even after I got my food, I reordered the mushrooms, but I still never got those tasty fungus. Oh well, I guess we saved a couple of bucks there, unless they charged me for it anyway. That will remain a mystery because Margaret picked up the tab for the entire table. I have no idea what that huge meal cost, nor did I really want to know.
Despite my futile attempt at mushrooms, everyone at the table seemed to be having a great time. Well, everyone except Legend that is. He would have much rather gone to IHOP for the evening meal, and refused to touch any of the chicken strips, corn, and mac and cheese on his plate. Oh well, that just meant leftovers for me the next day. Actually, it didn’t because Margaret got to the kid’s leftovers before I had the chance. I had plenty of leftovers of my own to scarf down the next day though. When I meet up with people at a restaurant, I’m far more into socializing than eating. In fact, if I manage to gobble down a third of the food on my plate, I consider that a good effort. Regardless how many leftovers I took home, I had a great time hanging out with Margaret’s daughter Monica and her family. Truthfully, I wish we could do that more often, but perhaps we could find a quieter place with not so many birthday celebrations.
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