Fast Food Generation Style

Yesterday I took my mom to "help" my daughter by babysitting and helping out any way possible. I love to see my daughter and I especially love to see my grandsons. My mom is 84 and is doing great, but she doesn't like to drive in the big city. Here she is in one of Jerusalem's 4th of July hats. (See Jerusalem's Storriahome etsy shop for this kind of fancy.) My mom is so much fun and she loves to be around her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. So I picked her up and away we went. The big city has fast moving cars lots of people and fast food.

The first time my mom ate in a McDonald's was when she took my kids and me to Florida. She loves the beach and I think she would love to visit it more often. My mom is the ultimate Southern Belle. Very polite, very proper, and very opinionated about how and when you should eat. We had driven a long time and the kids were tired but as soon as we checked into the motel they wanted to go swimming in the pool. After a good cooling down we got dressed to go eat supper. My mom always reminds us that dinner is really the noon meal. Supper is what you eat just to fill up. Dinner is the real meal.

I suggested that since the kids are hungry, and I mean after swimming hungry, we go to McDonald's to eat. I know that kids and fast food is what it is about and if they have a playground maybe they will sleep long into the morning. Hope, Hope, Hope. But, my mom insists that we eat in the motel dinning room. After all, we need to go somewhere to wind down after our travel and swimming.

The waitress brings our menus and what do they want? Hamburgers! That's right, hamburgers! The waitress brings mom and my salads and-uh oh, a basket of crackers. I have never seen kids eat and enjoy crackers so much and with the sodas they ordered, it was like cornbread in a bowl of peas. Those bellies plumped up like a chi-chi-chia pet. We had to take the burgers and everything else to the room. I don't think I ate a complete meal the entire trip.

The next morning my mom says, "How about McDonald's for breakfast?" From then on my southern belle mom was on board for home cooking or fast food. Either way we could eat while the kids jumped, ran and just had fun. After all isn't that what having a grandma is all about?

Yesterday as we were going home around 5:45 pm she became hungry and wanted to go eat. I suggested we get something to eat on the way. She loves Wendy's chili, but she didn't think we could eat it driving. So we got hamburgers. Once again we delved into the world of fast food. She loved her burger and so did I.

It is amazing to me how we can live so long and change so fast. Here she is 84 years old and eating in the car. 100 years ago in 1908 our mothers and grandmothers would not have been allowed to go out at night, much less travel to another town at night going 75 mph. I always respect my mom and the way she thinks, but I'm glad she respects and trusts me to help her think and try new ways. I hope I am that way with my children. From generation to generation, life gets passed on.