That moment at Barnes & Noble...

So I was in one of my favorite places the other day – B & N. Preferably I enjoy it most alone, always getting a coffee and a sugar cookie. When I walk in alone its like smelling a bouquet of flowers (if you like the way flowers smell). I just inhale and say ‘aah’. It’s a moment of me time in a place filled with something that I can do all day, read and people watch.

But this day I was with my 5 year old son, so I say “aah” just a little because I’m on mom duty not me time. We usually can enjoy an hour or two in there, him looking at books and me reading magazines. The first stop is usually the kids section for him to grab a few books to look at. Then we head to the magazines for me to get a few to look at. Then we head to the café. He gets the orange drink, then has to pee at least 4 times while we are there. I get a half decaf coffee of the day and we split the sugar cookie.

I usually get to have most of the sugar cookie because it makes his drink “taste bad”. This day we head to the kids section and walk right into a mini Toyrus! I’m exaggerating, but yeah – now there are toys in Barnes & Noble. This was the one place my son and I could go where I didn’t mind him leaving with something and he didn’t mind if he didn’t. Now they have a toy section. Seriously? C’mon.

So he walks slowly by the toys and heads to the books like we always do. For some reason today he can’t find anything he really wants to look at. “Maybe we can just look at the toys for a while” he says. I pick out a couple books for him and we walk slowly by the toys again. We go back to the café and 10 minutes in comes the second bathroom run (we always go there first when we get there). So we gather all our stuff to put on a shelf just outside the bathroom. We come out and he wants to trade in the books he has barely looked it. Yeah right.

This time the slow stroll by the toys comes to a halt. Today I notice the volume is turned up in Barnes & Noble, where it usually feels rather peaceful. It’s like the toys have made the atmosphere unsettling. Kids are crying and some are screaming, getting louder as the parents drag them out of there. There are educational games, Legos, Leap Frog, and a bunch of other toys that don’t belong in a bookstore.

My son picks up a Playmobil Dragon and starts going on about how Christmas and his birthday are going to take forever. He’s suddenly unenthused as I try to show him more books that we can take back to the café. I say forget it and let’s go.

We go to the bathroom one more time before we leave, while he continues asking questions about the dragon. His jaws are dragging on the floor as we leave the store, pining for a dragon he’d never seen before this day. I am pouting too because my “aah” has turned to “ugh”. My favorite place to go with or without my son is now ruined! Why B&N, why??!!