Adoption at the Golden Corral

Our family recently dined at the brand new Golden Corral in our area.  Now, it is important to understand what type of eatery the Golden Corral is before moving forward with this story.  The Golden Corral is wall to wall food with every imaginable type of cuisine.  Actually, it looks like one trough after another for as far as the eye can see.  Where else could you have Chinese, Mexican, seafood, salad, and down home Southern cooking in one place?  Did I mention there is a chocolate fountain?  Oh yes, it is quite a sight to behold. 

Between the troughs of food are MILLIONS of people.  I mean it is like Golden Corral is handing out cash money!  There are people everywhere and each one of them has at least 4 kids with them.  I was on sensory overload from minute one of walking in the door.  To calm myself a bit, I sat with Morgan at the table while Kim and good friend, Misty, helped Madison and McKenzie fix their plates.  It is important to point out the picky eaters in our family left the building with enormous bellies and huge smiles.  I sat at the table with Morgan, focused only on her face, and tried to entertain a hungry 2 year old. 

Amidst the noise of clinking forks and knives, Madison announces she has to go to the restroom.  Since I was actively chewing and Kim was not, Kim drew the short straw for bathroom visit #1.  Have you ever gone to the bathroom in an all you can eat kind of place?  It isn't always pretty.  Neither one of us wanted to make this trip but children in our family do not go to the restroom alone in public places.  So off they go.  Honestly, I breathed a sigh of relief that I am off the hook for the bathroom break. 

Any  mother reading this post knows how wrong I was for assuming I had escaped the dreaded bathroom break in the all you can eat Golden Corral.  Shortly after Kim returns with Madison, McKenzie has to go to the restroom.  Yep, my number was up.  So off we go to what was not a half bad public restroom.  I was pleasantly surprised, but in awe of the sheer number of people also using the restroom.  We weren't in there 2 seconds when I hear, "Is she your daughter?" I turn around to see several little African American girls drying their hands at the sink in complete fascination of our mother daughter relationship. 

"Yes, I am her mom.  And she is my daughter," I answer.

"How is that?" they ask. 

"Well, she is adopted," I explain.

"What does that mean?" they ask.

"It means she grew in another lady's tummy and became part of our family after she was born."

"Cool."

I return to the table to finish my meal and watch the group of little girls from the restroom pass by as if seeing a display at the zoo.  All wide eyed and curious, they slowly walk past our table and I share the adoption conversation with Kim.  Ah, that makes sense.

Morgan, who has not embraced potty training until this moment, decides she needs to pee pee.  On the potty.  Now.  And she didn't lean over to discreetly whisper this need to me, but instead launches into a screaming fit that went something like this:

"POTTY NOW MOMMY! POTTY NOW! NOW NOW NOW!"

Trying to maintain some sense of dignity, I grab Morgan and the diaper bag and head back to the restroom.  The same scene appeared on the other side of the door - not half bad restroom, a ton of people, and a gaggle of curious little girls.  I put Morgan on the potty, but she doesn't like the seat.  It's too big.  I hold her over the seat.  It doesn't feel right.  I check her Pull Up to feel not a drop of liquid.  We leave the stall to assume the position on the changing table.  Guess what happens next?

"Are you her mama?"

"Why, yes, I am."

"You can't be her mama.  She's black."

"Yes, I know."

"And you're not."

"Yes, I know."

"So how are you her mama?"

"Well she was born from another lady's tummy and became part of our family after she was born.  Even though we don't look alike, we are still a family."

Six little eyes are boring holes in my head.  I am certain I am being interrogated.  Two of the three girls continue to stare me down as their friend, or possibly sister, pulls open the restroom door to yell, "Hey Keisha!  Come here."  Great. 

Keisha takes mere moments to appear and is slightly older than the other 3 girls.  I am just finishing the ritual on the changing table with Morgan.

"Keisha, that's her mama," she says as she points to Morgan.

"No way." Keisha says.

"Yep, they don't look alike but they are still a family.  That baby was adopted."

"Cool."

And with that, the interrogation ends.  Now everyone wants to know Morgan's name and how old she is and confirm how pretty she is.  The usual.  I, on the other hand, wanted to finish my meal which was surely ice cold by now.  I left the restroom with the Potty Princess and informed Misty and Kim the restaurant was now enlightened.  (Picture the old lady at the end of Poltergeist)  Kim looked around and assured me there was very little evidence of enlightenment in the Golden Corral. 

Of course, you can't always see enlightenment from the outside.  Right?