Human Perspectives

Last night I was reminded about how each of us carries around different thoughts and opinions.

Since Kim was out and about and my son was visiting Grandma, I thought I’d take my daughter out to dinner.

“I want crab legs!” she kept repeating.

I thought about this for a moment. We’d have to drive 40 minutes across town to Red Lobster and wait for a table, and on and on… After a hard day, I didn’t have the energy to do that.

Then it occurred to me that a nearby Chinese buffet had crab legs on it when I went there a year or so ago. It wasn’t the best food in town, but crab legs could make up for it if they had ‘em.

As we drove to the restaurant I kept saying “Honey if they don’t have crab legs, we’ll go someplace else.” She said ok.

After arriving, we went inside to take a look at the buffet. They did not have crab legs. What they did have was shrimp and “crab” in butter sauce I was almost that fake crab meat. They had some mussels in a cheese sauce and curiously a big pan of Creole crayfish that caught her attention. “I want to eat here.” she said.

hmmm… I was skeptical about the whole ordeal. I hated the idea she’d get a plate of food, nibble a little then leave it sitting, just to be thrown out by the waitress. But I thought I’d just get a small plate and eat whatever she didn’t.

So we filled up her plate with crab and shrimp, steamed crab and veggies, mussels, crab Rangoon. And what meal is complete without half a dozen Chinese creole crayfish?

I grabbed some rice and an egg roll for myself and we proceeded to the table.

I demonstrated how to peel a crayfish the New Orleans way as she tried the shrimp and crab. She didn’t the shrimp and crab concoction. But really enjoyed the mussels and crab rangoon.

Can I keep one of the little lobster heads?

No, it will stink up the house.

What if I keep it in the refridgerator?

No, it will stink up the refrigerator too.

Ok.

She tried peeling one herself and ended up with a red crayfish shell in her mouth.

That tastes awful.

Honey, it’s like shrimp, only eat the white part.

6 year old fingers aren’t as skilled at crawdad shucking as mine were. I quickly peeled her a three of them.

After eating the right part, she surprised me with an “Oh, that’s delicious.”

I tried her shrimp and crab combination. Ugh.. it was truly horrible. Nothing like a chewy crab substitute to turn my stomach. At that point I was feeling like I had spoiled the evening. Maybe I should have driven her out to RL and had us wait the 40 minutes for a table so she could have crab legs.

We had a few wontons and some Chinese doughnuts, as I did a “worms” demonstration with the paper from my drinking straw. That trick always gets the kids.

As we were leaving I quietly asked “How did you like that restaurant?”

She said “I didn’t like it….

…. I LOVED it!”

And witnessing the smile on her face reminded me that everyone has a different perspective.