The Day I Treated My Son to Ruby Tuesday

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OTelia35
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The Day I Treated My Son to Ruby Tuesday

Post by OTelia35 »

It’s Here! It’s Here!! Oh my goodness!!! My son’s special day is here. Oh, Goodness!

What am I going to do for his big day? He’s turning the big 8 this year. Am I ready for him to be my little man? Oooo gosh, what a mother to do? I wish I could turn back the clock and freeze it, so he stays my little boy just a little while longer. At least long enough until I have my own life in order, so I can focus more on his life and his development. I know! Wishful thinking.

What am I going to do for his big day?

The Issues

Well, I don’t have any family or friends nearby to call, in a moments notice, to set up an impromptu party. Plus my weekdays are shot.

I work ungodly hours from 10pm - 4am Monday evening to Saturday morning working at Home Depot. It takes me about 2 hours to unwind when I get home, so my eyes are firmly closed by 7am, if I am lucky. And by the time I wake up again, it is about 3pm. Oh crap! My day is pretty much gone… So what am I going to do for his special day? Because my weekdays are pretty much shot.

You are probably thinking, well you have the weekends at least. Yea, right! You would think that, but guess again. With my husband working 10 hours shifts for Dish Network on both days, my weekend is shot too. By the time he gets off work, it is way too dark to do anything. So what can a mother to do? For that matter, what can any co-parent do in this situation?

Coming Up With Solutions

Well, I succeeded in getting time off from work, at least one day, to celebrate my son’s big day. Guess what? I requested the wrong day to be off. I was approved time off for a Monday after his actual birthday, thinking that my husband would be able to get off as well. Just a week prior to my schedule day off, I learned that my husband would not be able to get off for that day. Oh, Crap!! What the heck am I suppose to do now? If I was made aware of this problem three weeks ago, I would probably be able to get my requested day off changed to a more suitable day. But a week notice!! You all know, it is not enough time to change any day off requests from work. So, what am I going to do now?

Since my days are pretty much shot because of my work schedule and my husband’s weekends are shot because of his work schedule, I started focusing on the days that my husband is off. He is off on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are definitely out of the picture, because I am like a zombie on those days. Especially when I am forced to get up before my body is ready to get up and do things before 5:30pm. My brain is just not functional when that happens and I be super tired at work. So that leaves me with Friday. The good old, “TGI,” Friday. Even though I’ll still be a zombie at work, at least I will have the rest of Saturday to recover from the time I use to celebrate my little man’s big day. So, Friday is locked in my calendar. Now, what?!!

Due to my work schedule, I only have a couple of hours to spend with my boy. So, I better make the most of that time. So what can I do? Well going to the movie theater is out, because my son never developed the necessary attention span to sit through an hour to two hour long movie. He could probably be able to sit for about 30 minutes, before he decides it is time to go. So that will be money wasted. Bowling and other sports activities are just too draining for me at the moment. And I would rather participate with my son and not just be a spectator on the sidelines. Well I could take him back to the Fun Station that I took him to last year. But that place was way too expensive and for that kind of money, I would rather spend a whole day there and not just a couple of hours. So I guess my only option for now is to treat him out to dinner. Now, I have to decide on two things.

Where are we going? And what is my budget?

Well, the budget is the easy part. At least, I thought at the time. I didn’t want to pay no more than $40 at the most for 3 meals. That should be a fairly reasonable budget, right? Well, you will have to read on to see if I stick to that.

Where to go? Now, that would be a more difficult decision to make, due to my work schedule. So I told my husband, as I was running out the door for work, for him and our son to decide where we go and I will pay for the meal. A very easy and reasonable request, I should think. Well I am off to work.

Wednesday rolls around and my husband informed me that our son would like to go to Ruby Tuesday. I was very surprised and relieved by that request, because my son’s usual restaurant of choice has always been Golden Corral. Even though just the mention of Ruby Tuesday was setting off some warning bells in my head about the price, I was happy he made that choice. Granted, I could eat Golden Corral’s buffet for fraction of the cost, I felt my stomach would be much more happier at Ruby Tuesdays. Not to mention being in a more pleasurable and relaxing atmosphere.

When Friday Rolls Around

It is 2:30 Friday afternoon, a forecast but nice day to treat my son out. For a Friday, I am surprised by my energy. I jumped out of bed as soon as my eyes opened, told my family to get ready, and quickly took my shower. Within 30 minutes, we was all ready and eager to have fun and eat a great meal. So Ruby Tuesday, here we go!!!

About 30 to 45 minutes later, we was gracefully parked in front of Ruby Tuesday. I mean, literally we was parked in front of the restaurant. Only a hand few of cars scattered in the parking lot, which I expect are mostly owned by the workers of the place. Wow!! No time wasted on finding a parking spot. No inpatient driver rudely honking their horn at each other. No waiting time to be seated…. Oooooh I say, the hours of 3 to 5 pm are the sweet hours to go eat out, because the place was pretty much deserted from all the crap we would have experienced if we had waited after 5 pm.

So we was able to quickly be seated, stayed in a pleasant mood throughout our meal, and had a good time celebrating my son’s big day.

Our Meal

We started our meal with Strawberry Lemonade. My husband had the Salad Bar and French Fries. Even though my son at first wanted Lobster, we convinced him to downgrade his choice to the Chicken Finger dinner and sliced Apples. Which reminds me, me have to put Lobster on my grocery list, after all a promise is a promise.. And I had the Hickory Bourbon-Glazed Pork Chop meal. Oooooh my goodness, talk about a party in your mouth.. Once I put the first fork full of my meal in my mouth, I was in savory, mouth-watering heaven. The meat was so tender that it literally melted in my surprised mouth.

Granted, I haven’t had meat in my system for a quite a few months now, not because I don’t like meat. I do. It’s because I am trying to eat more healthier, and fruits and veggies are exactly what my body needs to maintain good health. But, once in a while I like to treat myself, especially when I go out. And I didn’t want chicken. And the steaks are a little too heavy for me now. And I usually go after any seafood dishes like: shrimp, lobster, or crab, but when I saw the Hickory Bourbon-Glazed Pork Chop on the menu, I just had to have it. The Pork Chop meal consist of: a so very tender pork chop (that literally melts in your mouth) finished on the grill, then glazed with a hickory bourbon barbecue sauce served with yummy mashed potatoes and crispy green beans. And that was the best decision for the evening, because I enjoyed every minute savoring the delicious flavors coming from that meal. If you have not try this Pork Chop dinner, you must add it to your list of things to try when you are at Ruby Tuesday because your mouth and your stomach will thank you.

The Desserts

It wouldn’t be a birthday dinner without a little dessert. So my husband and son both had the Ultimate Chocolate Cake, which consist of: a creamy chocolate mousse layered between decadent chocolate cake on a chocolate cookie crust. And me being a chocolate cake fiend would usually jump at the opportunity to eat anything that had the words chocolate cake in the title, and granted that dessert looked very tempting to my palate, but while reading down the menu my eyes fell on another dessert: the Chocolate Goblet Sundae. Talk about being on cloud nine. The Chocolate Goblet Sundae consist of: rich brownie cake layered with vanilla bean ice cream and warm chocolate sauce. Topped off with sundae style whipped cream and a cherry on top in a goblet looking glass. Having the warm moist cake mixed with the coolness of the vanilla bean ice cream, my mouth was in ecstasy of sweet flavors.

The Price

I was in such a good mood after enjoying my meal with my family and seeing a big beautiful smile on my little man’s 8 year old face, I say $75 dollars plus a $10 tip was a very good price to pay for the day. Granted it is not $40 like my pre-set budget. But spending time with my family in a most pleasant and relaxing atmosphere, eating a great flavorful meal, and seeing my son bright smile at the end, was well worth the excess price. I don’t know about you, but seeing a child’s face light up with a sweet, terrific smile is priceless to this hard-working parent eyes.

“Happy Birthday, My Little Man"
— Mom

My Final Thoughts

So, I guess the best present to give a child, is giving them special moments like this one.

And to all the little 8-year-olds out there, I wish for your special day to be great.

And for all the hard-working parents, just relax and think creatively, because you can make your child feel special on their day even if you don’t have time for a party and are on a tight budget.. Just give them your time and everything else will work itself out.
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DATo
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Post by DATo »

I enjoyed reading your account of your son's birthday dinner as well as the lead-up to it. I might suggest that you save this story and present it to him on his 28th birthday. I think he might get a kick out of reading it some day when he is much older. [:- )
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OTelia35
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Post by OTelia35 »

thank you for reading.. and I do believe you are right. I will save a copy for him.
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Post by LivreAmour217 »

Cute story! He will probably always remember that birthday! It's those little things that stay with us! :)
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Post by CSM-writer »

What a great story! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Not that you're looking for others to correct any errors that were present, however, the only errors I noticed were simply grammatical. The story was very well written and interesting from the title to the content and all the way to the end. Your story reminded me of when my daughter was just turning 8 years old. Time certainly does fly by. Country music singer Kenny Chesney says "Don't Blink".
On another note...reading your story was to me like reading one of my own. You employed humor, wit, sarcasm, and seriousness into creating this. I think it's good work. Work you can build on...
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OTelia35
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Post by OTelia35 »

Grammatical errors... That's like kryptonite to me.. my one weakness. I know I am a good writer.. and I can lay down my thoughts in a way I can convey my meaning and most importantly the way I react to things. But grammar is still my weakness. I can read, read, and read my own work until I am blue in the face.... but still I'll missed something when I go to edit my work. It's like my brain refuses to knowledge any imperfection in the piece I'm working on. But, you give me someone else's work... My brain spot those questionable errors very quickly...

Thank you for reading my accounts for that day, and thank you for bring any issues to my attention. I can't say with any certainty that I will be able to correct any grammar issue with this piece, since my brain consider it a done deal. But I sure make a huge effort to spot those in my future writings.

Thanks.. and big hugs for your input. Highly appreciated.
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Post by CSM-writer »

You are absolutely welcome hun. Might I add to that I could possibly be of some assistance to your grammatical weaknesses (as you put it yourself) as this is my area of interest in writing--critiqing and grammer/punctuation. That, and I want to become at least a published writer.
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