send all old people to prison!

OK, i think we know i really don't mean it.

or do i?

naaah.

we went out to dinner tonight with my parents for my birthday...which isn't until Tuesday, but celebrate early and often is the motto 'round here. my parents met us here for some killer hushpuppies, pulled pork and sweet 'tater fries. oh, and there would have been Dixie's Crimson Voo-Doo Ale, except that the restaurant doesn't carry it any more. schmucks.

digression, they call you valerie.

so anyway, like i said, my parents met us there. having not been there before, my mom asked where the restaurant was, and quickly looking online, i see it's at the corner of Bellflower Blvd. & Flower.

or so i thought.

it's actually a street after, but! you can turn onto Flower, and cut through the alley to get to the restaurant. so i called them at home to tell them.
too late. already left.
so i then called my mom's cell.
not on. niiiiiice.
then i think, hey! try step-pop's cell! he usually has more minutes on his cell (they have pay-as-you-go service).
guess what? it's not on, either.
and they don't have voice mail.

many's the time i have said, look...just get a family plan with a small amount of minutes. but they would have voice mail. there's been more times than i can count (and i'm horrible at math to boot) when i couldn't reach them and leave them a message because they don't have voice mail.

so. back to the location problem. not sure if they would figure out where the restaurant was, the Husband and i walked up to the corner they would turn on to try & catch 'em.
after about ten minutes, i tell the Husband i was going back to the restaurant to see if we missed them.

they came out of the restaurant just as i got there.
"well! where have you been?" my mother says.
"yeah and what kind of computer you got that gives bad directions?" the step-father chimes in.
i respond that IF they had their cell phones on, i could've reached them and told them.

then my stepfather comes back with "well, i'm old but not stupid, if you think i couldn't find where this gosh darned restaurant is (ed. note: if you know my stepfather, you know he didn't say gosh darned. family blog and all.)"

wow. suddenly Bellflower is the Happiest Place on Earth. move over, Disneyland.

once inside, he calms down considerably. then he starts winding up again about did i get a table instead of a booth because you know your mother has a hard time sliding in booths.

nooooo. it never occurred to me. i only have known her my entire life and know her physical limitations.

we get a table. WITH chairs. score one for me.

dinner was good. step-pop got better. by the time dinner was done, he was much better. i had just decided that hunger was the only issue and that he wasn't a grumpy old man when, walking through the parking lot, we miss getting clipped by an old man driving his Lincon Contental with his wife.

"gosh darn that fool," the stepfather says, "old people need to have their heads examined and should probably all be sent to prison."

hmmm. i don't think he'd like it if the Fogie Police came for him.