"Table For Two"

Last night my kitchen was closed because my four year old son took me out on a dinner date to his other favorite kitchen:  Buca di Beppo.  "Boo-kuh",as he says it, is his favorite Italian hangout.  With a name like "Giovanni Antonio", he fits right in!  However, he inherited Mommy's fair skin and blue eyes which makes it hard to believe that he is of the Sicilian Sambitos, yet his striking resemblance to his Daddy confirms it.

He loves our date nights, and for me to say that I do as well would be the understatement of the century!  I am so aware of the limited amount of time that I have with him wanting to snuggle with me, and wanting me to "be his date", so I bask in every minute!  It is the same with Sophia.  I look at her sweet face and I just know that one day she very well might roll her eyes at me for telling her just how much I love her.    

I picked up Giovanni from pre-school and with our appetites in tow, we headed for the restaurant where he politely requested a "table for two".  We had a delicious meal!  Most of you probably know that Buca di Beppo is famous for its family-style dinners, which is another way of saying "humungous portion size".  I decided to ask the food server if there were a way for me to order from the lunch menu as that menu contains "Meals for One".  She answered in the affirmative so I ordered the grilled salmon with broccoli romano; However, I asked for the pesto sauce to be put on the side because it is far from being figure-friendly.  Giovanni had his staple of spaghetti and meatballs, and we had a wonderful dinner together while talking about what Daddy and Sophia were doing at that very same time, and about Giovanni's day at pre-school.

Our meal came to roughly $20.00, so $2.00 is being placed in our jar.  Upon returning home and after Giovanni's bath, I tuned into George Clooney's "Help For Haiti" telethon.  With tears streaming down my face, I wished that I could reach into that television and grab as many of the pictured orphans as I could and bring them here to love and to feed.  Knowing that I couldn't, I did what I could, and I picked up the telephone and donated money.  If the advertisements are correct, maybe, just maybe, hundreds of mouths will be fed in Haiti from this simple action??? 

I'll depart today with another fitting quote that my sister's mother-in-law, and my dear friend, Nancy, sent to me in honor of this project:

"Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it."--Mahatma Gandhi