A 4-year-old girl is smacking her mother with a piece of wheat toast on the elevated circle that overlooks the main hall at Union Station. A 3-year-old boy with a ketchup-smeared face has rocked his highchair back on two legs in a fight over whether to put on a jacket. And at the table next to mine, a couple in their mid-60s are failing at finding topics of conversation over their breakfast specials in the early afternoon.
This is holiday week at Union Cafe.
I'll admit to having a blind spot when it comes to children in restaurants. I can recognize the difference between good and bad behavior. And I certainly don't want my daughter to cause a scene. But it took a lunch at Union Cafe between Christmas and New Year's Eve for me to suddenly understand what it means to be a childless couple just trying to ride out a meal inside the chaos that is a dining room full of children.
I couldn't help but sympathize with the egg-eating couple. He would tighten his grip on his fork and slightly grimace as the toddler in the highchair next to him threw pieces of quesadilla beneath his table. She just stared determinedly at her rye toast, as if it were a little slice of salvation. When there are literally dozens of children at a restaurant, I think it is the sheer capriciousness of kids that is so challenging.
Screaming, laughter and crying all echo in the great hall of Union Station. And I finally have a bit of sympathy for the diner who is irate that he or she is a paying customer and doesn't have a moment's peace to eat. So on behalf of parent nation, here's an apology for when a restaurant turns into Lord of the Flies. Although I'll credit Brancato's Catering, which runs the Union Cafe, for attempting to quell the tide of angry children with a steady stream of crayons and kids' cups. But a conscientious server can only do so much during the lunch rush.
To the staff of the Union Cafe and that nice couple who felt like having breakfast around 1 p.m., I want to remind you that 2011 is just around the corner. And in the new year, school will be back in session and the weekday lunch will once again be for grownups.
[Image via Flickr: Old Shoe Woman]
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