A Fun First at Chili's

Jon and I went to Chili's last night for dinner. It was kind of on a whim because we ended up leaving work/school late and I didn't really want to cook or wait for food to be cooked at home. So we went and were being seated, when I saw my favorite little "nephew," MD (and his parents of course) sitting in a high chair. He was the only one in the high chair...his parents were in the booth. He's a little over a year old and I just love him because he always makes my day when I see him. We usually walk in the door and he comes running to me first and clings to me for about five minutes. I quickly lose his attention to "Uncle Jon" who throws him in the air and stuff, but it makes me feel really special. He recognizes me and is excited to see me. Well I didn't have high hopes last night because we have never really seen them "out." Usually we hang out at one of our houses, so I wasn't sure how MD would react to seeing us. I walked up and pretended that I was stealing his food and he looked at me...kind of stared for second and then got a big smile on his face. His big, mostly toothless smile melts my heart! He knew me and was equally excited to see me, although he was distracted by his mom's hamburger...he wanted it, she wouldn't let him have it...it was quite the ordeal! So they invited us to sit with them, but we decided not to since they already had their food.

We talked for another minute and then Jon and I took our seat. I could hear MD "talking" to the waiter, the people at the next table, his parents and it made me smile...I just love that kid! So Jon and I looked at the menu and ordered our food. At some point I looked up and noticed that they had gone. I figured they might have come over to say bye or something, but it wasn't a big deal. On a side note, restaurants in Laramie (or most of WY for that matter) are different than most. Chili's in Edmond or anywhere else for that matter would be pretty fast. You don't usually have to wait long because the service is so good and you can pretty much count on the same, good quality. Now put that same restaurant in WY and the service tends to drop, along with the quality. Last night it was just the service, which is always better than poor food quality, so it was no big deal. We were used to waiting forever in Chili's. So we chatted and eventually ate our dinner. Jon had finished and I was taking my time because I knew it would be a while before the server ever came back to give us our check.

We were both stuffed and just wanted a to-go box and our check when our server came back to our table and said that he had dessert on the way. At first I thought that he had a pretty clever way of asking people if they wanted dessert. We declined and he persisted with, well can I just get them to-go for you? We said no thank you again, trying to be patient with this guy, but we had both been waiting for about 10 minutes for our check! Then he said, but it's already paid for, so you should at least let me put it in a to-go box for you. What? Jon and I were apparently pretty dense last night, probably because we were both really tired, when it finally clicked. Khalid and Rheem (MD's parents) had bought dessert for us! We asked the waiter to box it up for us and we would take it home. It just made me so happy...not so much because of the dessert itself, although I wasn't complaining about having to eat it (I am pregnant you know), but mostly because no one has ever done that for me before. I have never had anyone buy something for me at a restaurant without telling me about it. That just happens in movies and bars, right? It felt like we were in a movie...so fun! So we waited for another ten minutes for the desserts to come out in a mondo-sized bag, and brought them home.

I couldn't wait to see what we had gotten, so I pulled them out of the bag while Jon called Khalid to thank him. I told Jon that Khalid must have had a pregnant wife recently...although we are pretty certain that it was Rheem's idea because she is the thoughtful one of the two of them. So it was the first time I've had someone buy something for me at a restaurant without me knowing first. It was great...and the dessert wasn't half bad either...