Red Lobster is still da Shyt

Anybody remember when Red Lobster use to be considered fine dining?

I have many fond memories of going there on special occasions as a kid. I remember my parents taking me there for my 7th birthday and how grown-up I felt being in such a “fancy” restaurant. It is a very poignant memory for me as it was the last time we had any special occasions with just the three of us because my brother Maku was born 2 months later and Amon 2 years after that. Within 3 years of that birthday my father would be leaving us.

Anyways, Amon still enjoys Red Lobster to this day so we decided to go there for his last night before deployment and as an early birthday celebration for Chyna.




We went with some family friends Noelia and Carlos and their two sons.



Along with our 3 little ones and Chyna (who is quick to tell you that we can longer consider her a child even though she still gets stuck at the kid table) we were a force to be reckoned with for the wait staff.



The conversation inevitably turns to my love life again and why I don’t ever bring anyone home. They say I’m too picky and I think too much about it. That I should just settle on the next nice guy I meet and make him mine. I tell them they don’t understand and even though they were all lucky enough to find each other it really isn’t that easy. My brother worries about me being alone and wants me to finally find someone good enough to take care of me as much as I try to take care of everyone else. Ultimately, I want that too. I’m just not ready to settle for just any nice guy. I’d rather be by myself then be with someone I don’t love wholeheartedly.

Recently, I half-jokingly told one of my friends that he was “the object of my affection” and he wanted to know how could I be so sure of my feelings for him. I told him it wasn’t something I could put into words but I was pretty sure. He didn’t seem convinced. I told him I would think about the “why?” and I would get back to him.

I wanted my response to be lofty and poetic and I wanted to use grand sweeping gestures with my words in the hopes that he could adequately comprehend what I felt. I thought about it and thought some more and just couldn’t find the words. It made think that maybe nothing was there after all if I couldn’t even put it on paper.

Then yesterday on our way back from Red Lobster we passed Chuck E Cheese. All the kids went ape shyt! They begged and pleaded to go inside. They were near tears once they realized we weren’t going to stop. I asked my 3 year old niece Aliana why she loved it so much and she looked at me puzzled and said “Because it’s Chuck E Cheese! And I just do!” So I pressed on...”But …why do you love it?”



And she says “Because I’m a kid and I’m suppose to!!” Hmmm.. Maybe it was less epiphany and more Pina Coladas but the effect was the same. It made perfect sense to me. She may not have had the vocabulary to explain her love but she knew what she knew because she KNEW it.

It got me to thinking that maybe we should all be more childlike and not make love so complicated.



Stop second guessing ourselves and go with what feels right. Maybe we should stop being so afraid to step out on limbs with reckless abandonment even if It means falling far from the tree and getting hurt. Who knows?

All I know is that I pray to God that he always keeps me safely rooted in my girlish romantic sensibilities.
That he keeps me simple.
That he keeps me honest.

And for goodness sake keeps me away from those Red Lobster cheese biscuits.

They are the devil.