Getting Out

I took the boys to a local mall yesterday to return some things. We went to the food court for lunch. This is always a bit of a nightmare not just because we have feeding issues, but this mall is always PACKED with people and there are never any good seats to be had. But today I scored and it was the most pleasant outing we've had in a very long time. Here's why....

1. An older lady maybe in her 70's came up to me to ask about the boys. She smiled and said "Twins? They're not identical, I can see some differences besides their sizes." (Most people don't even notice their size difference, so this was neat.) "I have identical twin grandsons who are teenagers now. Let me give you advice that my daughter, their mother, came up with. And don't worry, I know mom's don't need advice from strange old ladies, but you might like this idea. When they are older they will fight over which restaurant they want to eat at, McDonalds or Burger King, and it will be a nightmare because someone will be upset, and so will you. My daughter decided that the boy who was born on the odd minute (ie. 2:33pm) would get to make the final choice of restaurant on the odd days, and the boy who was born on the even minute (ie. 2:34pm) would get to make the decision where to eat on the even days. And their mother would get the final decision on the 31st of every month. Solved that problem, and many others." When I asked her when did the Dad get to decide where to eat she said "Why does he need to decide? He's not the one dealing with them every day!" I liked her a lot.

2. We found a table but I was struggling to find high chairs. There was a table across from us with a group of moms and their babies having lunch, one of them had twins. The twin mom got up and asked me if I would like her to go and get the highchairs for me so I wouldn't have to leave the boys alone. She said that she had help with her but if she had been alone it would have been one more thing to deal with, so she needed to help a fellow mom of multiples out. I liked her a lot.

3. At the table next to us was a very old frail lady, maybe in her 80's eating lunch alone. She asked if they were twins, were they fraternal. Then she said, "I am a twin too. But my twin is my brother. You would be amazed at how many people still ask us to this day if we are identical. So stupid, don't you think?" I busted out laughing with her. She shared a few stories with me about growing up with a twin while I tried to feed the boys. She said that it was a big deal in her small town to have the only twins. That her mother never left the house until they were 3 because there was no way back then to carry twins around and they didn't have a car. I liked her a lot too.