This Aggression Will Not Stand, Man

posted by Melissa
Tuesday Afternoon:  West Seattle Bowl

Tuesday and Thursday from 3p-6p West Seattle Bowl has their Happy Hour.  Bowling is $9.50/lane/hour, which is a great deal.  Much cheaper than the $3.50/per game/person at the AMF Imperial Lanes.  So, I decided that would be a cheap and fun family way to get into some bowling this month.

Everyone was in.  We just needed to load up the minivan and pick Jamie up from work in Queen Anne on the way.  No problem.

Wrong.  Turns out it was a big problem.  Jamie didn't finish work until 4:30p, and when we picked him up and realized there was no quick way from Queen Anne to West Seattle, the complaining ensued.  Levi "didn't even want to go bowling in the first place."  Lily's "life is terrible and she hates it" and this traffic filled hour long car ride led her to angrily ponder out loud "why her life is worse than everyone else's" and of course, the inevitable "it's all because you had Tallulah and ruined my life" answer to why her life sucks so bad.  No matter what happened or where we are, or even if Tallulah is just peacefully sleeping two seats away from her like she was that afternoon.  It's all Tallulah's fault, and therefore inherently mine since I brought her into this Lily-Hating-World.

We get to West Seattle, hastily pull into a parking spot and rush into the lanes.  It is now 5:30p and the league bowling starts at 6:15p.  45 delightful minutes of bowling ahead of us.  Except by this point the kids are "starving" and between my bowling and hurrying them to their turn we devour a basket of fries and some delicious nachos.  But hey, it's Happy Hour, right?  Everything is $2.00 off the menu price.

Wrong again.  Happy Hour for the food and beverage is only in the bar.  When you are bowling, everything is full price.  Even the PBR's.

Jamie won the game, Levi came in second.  Seriously, maybe Tallulah even beat me that day.  This time I am blaming it on the ball.  I think I need a 9lb ball, but the 9 pounders have thumb holes that are too small for the middle joint on my thumb.  So, I bowl with a 10lb ball.  And it is totally making me lose.

After the bowling, we drove down to White Center for pizza at Proletariat Pizza.  Jamie is looking at a job there for his new painting company and the woman said to him, "When you come look at the job, bring the family and get some pizza, you might as well get something out of driving down here."  So, I thought we were getting a free pizza pie.  Is it just me?  I totally thought that sounded like an offering.

Wrong again.  We had to pay.  And while it was a great place and the pizza was really tasty; light, flavorful sauce and airy, thin crust...I was pretty bummed when I looked at our back account the next day.  It did get me to White Center though, which I was always sorta repelled against.  And I loved it, it felt comfortable.  Again, unpretentious.  Lots of families and "normal" people.  You know, like me.  Probably all losers that think themselves winners, my people.

All those wrong turns cost us a lot of money.  Not so cool when you're husband is trying to start his own business and you are unemployed.  And I would say that it least it was fun, but really there was a lot of complaining and fighting the whole time.

But I will say that there were fun moments.  Watching the Tallulah roll her ball down the lane and hit some pins, and turning around with a big cheesy grin on her face.  Leaning on Jamie as he put his arm around me and gave my head a kiss while we watched Lily bowl.  Seeing the young owner of the pizza place look up and smile at me while making dough, carrying her baby on her back in a backpack.  Lily, delighted to inform us that she had been to this pizza place before and had a pizza piled high with arugula on top.  Levi saying thanks and giving me a hug for no reason.

Life is full of fighting and complaining, and sometimes I can be so upset by that that I miss those touching moments.  I am glad I had the sense enough, although I didn't think it at the time, to pay attention and see the moments of joy.

Speaking of fun and joy....Happy Birthday Amy!!!   See you tonight at the lanes!
-Melissa