Children's Menus

Tonight we met my sister and Richie for dinner. While Jacob was ordering his meal from the children’s menu, I noticed that it stated, “For 10 and under.” He has been 11 for a week now, and, being a very law-abiding child, I assumed he would probably worry if he realized he was not properly following the rules. I didn’t mention anything about it until we were driving home. Happily, he was not as upset about his gaffe as I anticipated, and declared, “Well, geez, Pattye still gets a kid’s menu.”

My niece, Pattye, has three children and is going to be 30 this year. She looks young – about 20-ish in my opinion. (Yes, I know, it runs in the family.) Whenever she goes out to eat with her husband and kids, the wait staff always asks, “How many children’s menus do you need?” Once, the hostess at Max & Erma’s didn’t even inquire, led them to their table, shot her husband a sympathetic glance, and set down four children’s menus! So, I guess if Pattye is offered a children’s menu at age 29, Jacob can take advantage of one at age 11. And, while Pattye does seem youthful, she really does not look like she is 10! What are those hostesses thinking?

Speaking of Pattye, she phoned a little while ago. My sister and I had given her a Jo-Ann’s gift card for Christmas and she wanted to tell me that she redeemed it tonight. She spoke excitedly about purchasing art supplies, craft items, canvas, and . . . a wooden man. What? She explained that her husband would be able to use it for sketching. What? I have taken many art classes in my day, worked in the art field for decades, but have never found use for a wooden man. I must be out of touch or something.

Update: Adam has a friend who is an art major at EMU. He told me that she has a wooden man! Evidently it is some sort of posable figurine used for anatomy drawing. In the olden days, we just used real people.