Friday Photo Flashback

Time for another Friday Photo Flashback. I was going to say that I am not digging too deep for this week’s picture, but when I realized that it is probably at least 10-15 years old. Is that considered old? You decide.

This is one of my favorite photos of me with my dad and brother. This photo used to come up for both of them if they called me. With each new phone and contact transfer, the photo got more and more pixilated. I wasn’t even sure I still had a copy of the original until I found it saved on a hard drive.

My brother, as you may recall, lives in Ohio. He usually gets up to Michigan a couple times a year. This was taken during one of those visits.

We had obviously gone to lunch or breakfast at Leo’s Coney Island, because we are in the parking lot there. My dad and brother must have drove up to see us. If I had to guess this may be around 2009 because I am wearing my B95 coat (and I still have some hair). I’m guessing that this was springtime as the trees in the background are still green.

What I love about this picture (and many subsequent ones of the three of us) is that there is no doubt we are all related. The older my brother and I have gotten, the more we started looking alike. The older we get, I also feel like we look more like my dad.

What I hate about this picture is knowing when it was taken. I was still with my ex and I’m sure that any time I was allotted to see my brother and father was based loosely around whatever she had to do or wanted me to do. My time with them was never as much as it should have been. To this day, I look back and wish I knew then what I know now. I lost out on a LOT of time with my family.

On the bright side, I feel like my relationship with both my father and brother are stronger now than they have ever been. For that, I am glad. I love this picture and love them both.

Weekend Anxiety

The above sign can be seen almost everywhere these days. A similar sign was on the door of the restaurant my boys and I had breakfast at on Sunday. It obviously doesn’t mean anything …. In the past year, I have only eaten out twice. Once was for my anniversary (and they had everything set up perfectly for social distancing) and the other time was Sunday.

My boys wanted to go to Leo’s Coney Island for breakfast, and we met at 10am. When we walked in, there were only two table available (social distanced). There was a table across from us that had a sign on it similar to the one below:

About 10:30a, the restaurant starts to get a bit busier. People are beginning to wait for tables. One group of guys come in and none of them are wearing a mask. I made a comment under my breath to my boys about it and finished my breakfast. My sons were not quite done eating and a waitress comes over and removes the sign on the table across from us and seats the maskless morons at that table.

I could feel my anxiety levels jump out of control. I told the boys to put their masks on and we were leaving. I’m not even sure if they were finished eating. I was done.

Why bother with the signs on door or on the tables if they mean nothing?

I’d hate to think that we may eventually do what they are doing in the UK. Did you see this? They want to put in social distancing “lamp shades” over tables for people to eat at!

I mean, look at that thing! How can anyone enjoy a meal under that thing?? It’s like the friggin’ Cone of Silence from Get Smart!

I don’t think I’ll be ready to eat out again for some time ….