Last night, Maria and I met some of my former co-workers for dinner at Buca di Beppo. I started preparing Maria for this outing weeks ago so that she wouldn't be too freaked out by the break in her normal routine, even showing her pictures of the place. And, it worked. She talked very excitedly about how we were going to "Boo-key di Beppo" or sometimes she would just say "the restaurant." I, however, suffered all sorts of needless anxiety about how the night would go. Would we be hastily tossing our pasta into doggie bags while Maria dissolved into multiple tantrums? Or would I be able to sip a decent glass of Pinot Grigio while my sweet, gregarious little girl offered her crackers to each of our dinner companions? Happily, it was the latter. We had a wonderful time and she was just a perfect little angel.
After dinner, we walked around Monument Circle en route to the parking garage. The Circle was thrilling to Maria because it is all lit up and decked out for the holidays. And, quite unexpectedly, we bumped into Santa Claus! What a night!
Even before Maria was born I had all kinds of ideas about how we would enjoy evenings just like this. It's so nice when reality is even better than the fantasy.
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