“I’ll have apple juice please,” Megan says confidently to the waiter who asks her what she would like to drink.
She is so confident that she just returns back to coloring her coloring sheet that the hostess gave her along with three crayons – red, green, and blue. She has been through this routine enough times to understand how things work.
My mind escapes for a second while I await Elizabeth’s drink order for herself and Julian. It really does amaze me how life is so different for Megan and Julian now than when I was growing up. What I mean is that my family seldom took me out to places like this. I don’t blame them or anything. There was really no need to, nor could my family afford it then. It just wasn’t realistic. I remember my mom cooking dinner at 9pm after coming home late from work. This was just the norm. Both my parents worked and they worked hard to provide for us what they could and a future for my sister and me. Growing up as a latchkey kid in Brooklyn was what it was – and it was commonplace. It still is.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed (as I always do) that our lives remain this way, or even better. I do hope that Megan and Julian get to grow up with standards higher than mine ever was and therefore, their lives will be filled with the opportunities to fulfill their greatest dreams.
“I’ll have a Coke,” I answer the waiter.