It was Oktober Fest in Tahoe this weekend. Each year we go with my sister and her husband and now there are four children who tag along. It is very hard to push strollers and wheelchairs over pine needles, but the sausages are good, we all love sauerkraut and the beer selection is just lovely.
So last year, and the year before we just bought the giant mugs. .It is one of those deals where if you pay a little bit more you get the souvenir mug and all of your refills are more beer for much less money. It is the way to go if you are going to have more than one beer. Which we may or may not have done in the past. I am guessing we had more than one in years past.
This is the first year that I actually stood in line and thought about my purchase. I wanted to buy four mugs. I wanted to think that we were going to stay and hear the ooompa band and the yodeling competition and have several beers each and relax in the crisp air, soaking up September sun. I wanted to be optimistic. I want to be those people.
The reality is that the chances of any one of the adults finishing even one beer without needing to deal with a kid-related crisis is pretty slim. Jaster and Demanda have "twins" (the boys are 7 weeks apart from two different wombs) and we have our independent sprite Lucy and our unpredictable elf Jake. We are not the kind of crew that gets to sit still, be patient or relax.
So I compromised. We bought two mugs and two cups. I feel like this every day. In nearly every decision I make. I want to think that I can take my two children to the park, a park with no gates...uhm no. I want to think that the kids and I can stop in and get some milk at the grocery store and have it take only ten minutes. I want to go to the movies, go on vacations and go out to dinner with my children.
I struggle to find the balance; sometimes the optimist wins and I buy four souvenir mugs...sometimes we drink out of paper cups.
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