You all thought I forgot about my personal hunt for this fine capital’s best Hot Chocolate. Well, my very few readers, turns out I had not forgotten but I did other important things. I ate a lot of cheese, I hit some Netflix series hard, finished off a few books, mom’ed it up and worked. So pretty busy, I bet you all feel like fools now and pity my first world schedule with deep empathy.
A few months back Fred and I did hit up a Jumping Bean for some delicious hot chocolate. You know my kid is alright and I dig her company, but she is constantly moving. I have never seen her sit still. Ever. So relaxing in a restaurant can be a constant parenting struggle. Sit down, stay still, be polite, don’t do that, watch out, be careful. Trust me, I know that is part of the gig but sometimes I like to chill with Winnie and have a decent conversation about favourite colours, possible future Christmas gifts, how the months work, why people live in different towns- you know the regular four-year-old yarn.
This visit was relentless. We both ordered a hot chocolate and it was grand, delicious, melt in your mouth greatness. It was trumped by my continuous discipline that I couldn’t determine the beverage’s potential.
Until this man decided to approach me.
He asked Winnie how old she was and he asked her what her name was- you know classic adult to kid convo. Then he looked at me and said “You are doing an awesome job. I know it seems like it’s never-ending, I know it seems like you’re the bad guy and I know it feels like it’s all you’re doing. You’re doing so much more than you know and she’s a very good kid. You did good.”
You have no idea how much this meant to me. This acknowledgement of my every day duties and that I was doing alright, melted me. I sat back in the chair and breathed.
I looked at him and said “Thank you. Really thank you because today I really thought, was a lost cause.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said. He waved good bye to Fred and left.
What an angel of a human. What even is that? Who does that?
I know we should be doing that more. We should be tossing out compliments like candy.
“Hey you’re awesome.”
“Hey you really made my customer service experience amazing.”
“Hey this coffee is my fn reason for life and thank you for making it so damn fine.”
“Hey, you’re really good at your job and I appreciate that.”
“You text really well- your grammar is superb and that is impressive.”
It’s not hurting anyone, but rather giving them that energy to get through what may be a difficult day. People shouldn’t be complaining about the routines and habits of everyday life. It is what it is and sure, parenting is a lot of work but it’s just how it goes. However, parenting is hard and life is hard. It’s great to just have a head nod once and awhile.
With that, I didn’t find the “sit down”, “be quiet”, “stay still” commands as consuming as it was before. It was approached with a smile.
By this time, the Hot Chocolate was cold and Winnie was worn out so we headed out for the trek home.
Before hitting the road, we thanked the workers and told them they rocked.
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