Grandma's Pearls

Grandson's Birthday

Well, this past weekend was rather interesting. My grandson turned 8 years old and had his B-day party at Chuck E Cheese. It wasn't at all what I expected. Yes, I expected it to be crowded but not like that! It was wall to wall people and the adults were ruder than the kids. We were sitting at the table while the kids were playing the games and a man walked by and shoved my son into the table. He literally pushed him into the table and squashed him, so he could get through there. You would think that he would say excuse me and wait just a few seconds before doing something like that but he didn't even bother. He just pushed and kept going. Even when my son said something about it rather loudly, the man didn't even acknowledge him or anything. Then a little while later as we were getting ready to leave, another man came barreling through. If my son had not moved my granddaughter out of the way, he would have pushed her to the ground and probably kept on going without so much as a thought to the 9year old girl he would have pushed to the ground!
I couldn't believe that adults could be so callous and insensitive. After all, everyone was there for someone's birthday. They should have some semblance of deceincy and respect for the other people there. I don't think we will be going to Chuck E Cheese for any other birthdays. Not only were the adults very rude and uncaring, the pizza was not good and the prices were outrageous. My son was supposed to get a party for six kids and ten adults for $100.00 That included the cake and tokens for the kids and goody bags for the kids. It also included 2 pizzas and drinks. They ended up paying $189.00 for this birthday party, not to mention the extra money they used for extra tokens for the games. I would imagine they spent over $200.00 before all was said and done. I told my youngest son that was the reason they never went to places like that for thier birthdays. It just wasn't affordable for us to do something like that.
I had 5 kids and if we did something special like that for one, we had to do something like that for all of their birthdays. It simply wasn't affordable even back in the day, as the kids say. Most of my kids b-day parties were at home or at thier relatives house i.e. aunt or uncle or cousins house.
All in all, I guess the birthday wasn't all bad because I was invited this time. There was a time when I wasn't allowed to see my grandson because his mother had a 2x4 stuck somewhere sideways. When she gets it in her head that you have done something wrong to her, you don't get the option of explaining anything to her. She thinks it therefore it is how she thinks it is. After a while, she will question you about it and then maybe you get to tell her what was going on at that time, if you remember. If not, then she assumes she was right the first time and you have to take your punishment, such as not seeing your son or his son for about a year. I didn't really get to see my grandson for about a year and a half because she thought that I was trying to be her mother. I couldn't be that cold-hearted if someone paid me. There is no way I could raise one of my kids wtih so much animosity and hatefulness towards other people.
Granted, she has had a hard life before she became an adopted member of this family. Her family didn't do the loving caring family thing. Her mother made her go to work in jr. high so that she could pay rent. Her brother has ADHD and it is severe. To the point that he has to take medication just to be able to concentrate enough to go to school. He is in his late teens, early 20's now and he reads on a 5th grade level. Part of it is the ADHD and part of it is a learning problem. But, instead of dealing with these problems and helping her son, my daughter-in-laws mother, took her son and gave him away to the state. She did this while my son's girlfriend was at school one day, many years ago. My daughter-in-law was getting ready for school and talking to her brother. They had breakfast together and then she went to school. When she came home her mother told her that her brother didn't live there anymore and that she gave him to the state to raise and adopt out if possible. She signed away all of her rights and didn't even bother to keep up with him and how he was doing. My daughter-in-law found the number of his case worker, in her mom's(?) purse and called the woman. She set up visitation with him and tried to get custody of her brother. She couldn't because she was a minor and her mother stopped it because they were living in the same house. She didn't want him and because they lived together, that stopped everything in its tracks. After she moved into her own place, her brother had a safe place to live so she left him there. He was happy and felt safe. Her mother caused as many road blocks as she could ti keep her from seeing her brother and for a while, she didn't see him, talk to him or even write to him. They have just recently gotten back intouch with each other and now she is happy that he is ok. He still has the same problems but he is older and better able to deal with them.
Anyway, I brought that up because my son's ex current ex girlfriend or his baby momma, got it into her head that I was telling her doctor that I was her momma. She said that she had a momma and didn't need another one trying to take over her life, etc.,etc., etc. So, for the first year of my grandson's life, I saw him once or twice. I didn't see him regularly until after he was 1 or 1 and a half. But, we have moved past that, for now. I am pretty sure that I will do or say something in the future and will have to wait all over again.