Here are three things that I recently found out about the human race. I wish I hadn’t. 1. On our driving trip from Tucson up to Idaho, we stopped at the Tempe IKEA for lunch. We parked in the family-friendly parking section up front, and went inside to grab some food from the bistro. We ate it outside on the grass next to the family-friendly parking section so that Miriam could have maximum opportunity to stretch her legs. While we were there, we saw no fewer than three vehicles pull up and park in the family-friendly section – and then a lone adult with no child inside got out and walked into the store.
It’s possible that, in some corner of my mind, I knew, or at least suspected, that such people existed. But I certainly never thought they’d be the kind of person who would shop at IKEA.
2. While in Idaho, we took advantage of free grandparental babysitting to go see I Am Legend. It’s rated PG-13, and for good reason – it is a freaky movie about zombies. So you can imagine how disappointed I was that a mom and dad near the front of the theater thought it was a good idea to bring their 3-year-old with them to see the movie. At one point, the poor kid was crying (probably from terror), and his mom actually told him to shut up.
If your toddler is crying in a dark theater while watching a really scary movie, it’s not his problem, it’s yours.
3. At the same movie, the girl next to me talked through almost the entire show. She wasn’t on her cell phone, or even having an unrelated conversation with her date. She was giving all of us a running commentary on the events of the movie. “Is he going crazy?” “Ooh, he’s hanging upside-down.” “So the puppy grew up to be that dog.” I finally had to lean over and tell her to be quiet. I’ve never had to do that before.
I hope someday I can recover from my newfound knowledge and life can go on as normal.