Today we went to McDonald's. We were out running errands and I was STARVING. The kids had been fed breakfast and lunch but somehow in the midst of the getting ready chaos I hadn't fed myself. So when we were cruising down the road and I saw those golden arches gleaming in the mid afternoon sun I could just hear a chicken sandwich and some greasy fries calling my name.
I pulled through the drive thru and ordered ONE chicken sandwich and ONE order of small fries.
And then there was a mini-eruption in the back of the minivan. "BUT WHAT ABOUT US?" the kids cried.
They wanted food, too. They were starving. They were hungry. Could they please have some fries? Could they please have some nuggets? Could they please have a happy meal? Could they please have a cookie? Could they please have some juice?
I guess I could have slammed my foot on the brake. I was still within screaming distance of the speaker. I could have yelled out frantically, "WAIT! I forgot the precious children! They are starving. I will order them each one happy meal. They will each take one bite of a nugget and then throw away the rest. They will then play with their happy meal toy for ten minutes and then leave it on the floor for me to step on one million times before I finally get fed up and throw it away! Oh and throw in three extremely messy chocolate chips cookies!"
Riiiiiiiight. I didn't do that. Instead I ignored the screams of revolt and cruised through the drive thru line.
And of course they showered me with the repeated shrill whine of, "That's not fair, why do you get food and we don't?" And for a split second I felt a teeny bit guilty. Was I being mean and horrible as I slurped up my french fries and chowed down my sandwich right in front of them? Was I teaching them to be selfish and mean and greedy?
'Why, Mom, why?" They continued their chant, demanding justice.
"Because I'm the mom," I said (or maybe yelled, but who's keeping track). And then I smiled to myself as I scarfed down all those calories, and I LOVED every minute of it.
I'm the mom. And they are the kids. And yup, sometimes life just won't be fair. Sometimes they'll get handed generic oreos while my husband and I relish in cheesecake. Sometimes they'll have to hit the hay just a little bit early so we can sneak in not just one, but two grown up movies. Sometimes I'm going to get a piece of gum, and they're not going to get one. Sometimes I'm buying myself a Snickers at the check out line and I'm not going to share. And sometimes I'm gonna go through the McDonald's drive thru and get myself something to eat, while they grumpily whine about the fact that they didn't get anything.
And they'll survive. And so will I. Especially since I just got that added boost of french fry grease.
Because come on. Being mom has its perks.