"I love it, the NorthPark!" {From 1/15/14}

(Yes, I'm a bit behind... These pics are from 1/15 when we met Susan & Charlie at NP for some walking, a little shopping, and lunch!)

And then something happened:

Seriously, I walked away from this situation at lunch with my jaw agape. That's just the only way to describe it... We were at the Neiman Marcus cafe. There was this little girl eating with her family at a table behind our table. There was a little girl....about 4 or 5 years old, I guess. She kept coming over to Eliette who was sitting in a high chair. This girl had an embellished sweat shirt on. You know the trend: rhinestones on a sweat shirt. Well, they're shiny and she got close, so Eliette reached for the bling. She kept coming over and Eliette kept reaching for the bling. No big deal. Hey brainiac, if you don't want my baby reaching for the rhinestones on your sweatshirt, then don't come stand next to my baby. So....Susan and I are talking, and apparently this girl wants to see the baby again. This time a young teen girl comes with her. They're standing by the baby. I don't think anything of it, and then my baby just starts screeeeeeeaming and crying. Eliette is to my right in a high chair, and the girl is on the other side of her, so I didn't see anything unusual, and I certainly didn't think that another child would intentionally hurt my child. I WAS SO WRONG. I scooped Eliette up and calmed her, and just held her, and then the other family gathered their things and rushed out of the restaurant. By then, the hostess comes over to me and she's all aflutter and apologetic because she couldn't get to Eliette fast enough to stop this little girl and then the hostess pointed out Eliette's hand: that little fucking mean girl took Eliette's hand and squeezed it as hard as she could, digging her nails into my sweet little baby girl.
OH MY GOODNESS! Are you freaking kidding me!?!? Susan and I were shocked. We couldn't believe it. It was the craziest thing!!!!

So anyway.... what could I do? The girl was gone, the mother was gone, and really, even if they had been there----what could I have done other than cause a HUUUUUGE SCENE to reprimand that child in front of God and everybody?? Okay, truth be told that would have made me and Susan feel better. And why didn't that older girl stop her??? What is WRONG WITH PEOPLE!? On the other hand, a public flogging like that would make me feel better, but at the expense of a child. Perhaps a more subtle approach would have been more appropriate? It doesn't really matter now. The moment is passed....

So, there's that.... Eliette's first experience with a mean girl.
Oh, I hope she doesn't grow up to be a mean girl. I just hope she doesn't. I know I have my share of behaviors, actions, dialogue that were certainly in alignment with being a mean girl when I was younger. It's not who I am today, and I just hate that about my own history. I didn't squeeze any baby's hand or anything, but I just seized opportunity to tear others down when I could have been and should have been building them up. That's the kind of girl I hope my Eliette grows up to be: the kind that spends her time building up others. That's the kind of girl I always should have been.

In the end, Eliette's okay. I'm okay. We're all okay.
...and it was Northpark. If you're going to have to have a bad day---Northpark is the best place to have one! I'm just sayin'....