It seemed like a great idea at the time. A multi-family outing on a gloomy Saturday; a meeting at the Farmers' Market, a walk along the waterfront to Fairhaven, paint-your-own-pottery at CreativiTea. Splendid. Pack up the diaper bag and jogger, I'm out the door.
The stricken looks of the three young employees at CreativiTea should have been enough to turn us around in our tracks. We had just tromped in to a crowded shop during the height of the holiday rush as a band of five soggy adults and three clamboring infants with their bulky jog strollers.
"Any tables?" we aked innocently, scanning the walls, careful to avoid the precariously stacked ceramics and knick-knacks that seemed (to me) strangely maniacal, ready to leap off their shelves at us and ruin our chances of ever leaving this place unscathed.
"Um," offered one girl, her eyes jabbing at us as if to say, "How could you do this to me?" Soon there was some furtive talk between the three employees, then a sort of secret negotiation that was probably something like, "Look, if you deal with these idiots, I'll work your next four Saturdays for you, and I'll clean the men's urinal." The male employee finally took us under his wing, allowing us to squeeze into a set of tiny tables near the front of the store, provided we would keep our strollers outside on the sidewalk. Fair enough.
As we began to settle in to our new digs, I was finally able to assess the situation for what is truly was: a terrible idea. We were bringing three babies, all well under a year old, into an itsy bitsy shop filled floor to ceiling with shatterable dishware, semi-toxic paints, and boiling hot tea. If we could escape this place without major accident or injury it would be the true miracle of Christmas.
I'll spare you the suspense: it turned out fine. We moms and dads banded together to entertain and feed babies, smear paint on little hands and feet for sloppy imprints on our cups and plates, wipe up minor paint spills, and avoid catastrophic burns/cuts - all while enjoying a few luxurious sips of tea (creme Earl Grey, spearmint with lemon) and guffawing at the fact that we ever doubted this scenario would work out perfectly.
