Monday, October 22, 2018

Sunday family lunch adventures

WE HAD A great birthday celebration with Sheryl's father on Sunday at Tony's Too. I like her dad and have always gotten along with him so I was all about going out for a good meal and the company.

Sheryl's sister, Susan, drove in from Farmer City (near Champaign) and her other sister Stephanie came, as did her two sons. Add a girlfriend, spouses, friends and a grandkid, and we had 11 people crammed into a big booth. I suggested we get another table but was shot down "because then we can't visit." I suppose that's the point.

I always get a charge out of Sheryl tormenting her father, who is very conservative and leans hard right. "Just vote D dad and everyone at this table for that matter," was the first thing out of Sheryl's mouth.

We gave him the new Bob Woodward book "Fear" (a fascinating read), and his eyebrows went up when he saw it.

"Trump says I shouldn't read it because it's full of lies," her father said. The irony hung like a foggy morning mist but I stifled a laugh and kept quiet, though I felt like crawling under the table, because I knew what was coming next.

"Well, then don't read it. You DO respect Bob Woodward, right?" Sheryl said.

"Well, I do like to see both sides," her dad said, staring the other way. His wife Gloria just watched on, wide-eyed at the exchange.

Cards and gifts were give to him from all around the table and lots of laughs were enjoyed as we visited The server did an excellent job dealing with people arriving late and taking the orders, and the food was decent. Then it came time to pay the bill. "Can you give us individual tickets?" Susan asked the server.

I jumped in and said it wasn't necessary - it's enough work just getting 11 orders right and making sure everybody is happy. I asked her to bring one bill. "Well, I don't have cash so I'll have to write a check," Susan said. "Write it to me, no problem," Sheryl said with a wave. "Rodney and I were paying for Dad and Gloria anyway. I brought a ton of cash."
While we wait for a new one, photo is from earlier this year.

It's the world we live in today, I guess. You don't bring cash so you don't spend it. Susan wrote a check and Sheryl figured out the bill and gathered cash from the others, and it all worked out.

It was nap time so we all got ready to leave. The lobby has a fireplace that requires the family to do a photo shoot so Sheryl gamely stayed awake long enough for the pictures, and to give hugs to all her nephews and the great nephew. She probably enjoyed that part the most even though she grumbled about it being nap time a lot.

We were both exhausted when we got home and I napped through the thrilling conclusion to the Bears-Patriots game. But we both made it through another family gathering and everybody seemed to be happy, so we called it a successful afternoon.

Can't wait to do it again. I think. Right.

No comments:

Post a Comment