Old Country Buffet night out

I am not a huge fan of Old Country Buffet, but we have discovered that Janey is. We went there a few weeks ago, and she had a wonderful time. Last night, we were engaged in one of our favorite family pasttimes---driving around having an extended argument about where we should eat. With strong individual tastes, a limited budget and a family full of people unafraid to express their opinions as vehemently as possible, it's a good time. And for the first time, Janey got truly in on the fun. We were about to go into 5 Guys, the burger chain, and she completely freaked out. That isn't new---she often does that when we go out places. I was ready to pack it in and go home, or maybe just get a little McDonalds, but we decided to sit in the car for a bit and talk to Janey. We asked her "Where do you WANT to eat?" I think we gave it a try because she was in an extremely good mood right up until we started into the 5 Guys, and so we had a feeling it wasn't just general crankiness. It took a lot of asking, and wording things differently, but eventually she said "I want to go to the buffet!" Of course, we weren't sure if she was just talking to shut us up, or not really meaning what she said, but we headed to the buffet. There was a huge line, and I almost just gave up again, but Tony asked her "Do you want to wait in the long line or go home?" and she said strongly "Wait in the long line!" And she did---for the most part, very patiently, for about 20 minutes. And when we finally got seated, she was as happy as a clam---eating a lot, all smiles, just seeming very pleased that we understood her and she was where she wanted to be.

There's a lot about Old Country that works for her. You get the food right away, it works for people with odd tastes, it's a loud and happy environment, and, well, to put it delicately, being a little odd doesn't exactly set you apart there. If aliens landed on earth, and they looked like some of the people in that bar scene in Star Wars, they could go eat at OCB and fit right in. Janey was so happy she spent a lot of time making her loud happy noise, the long drawn out "AHHHHHHHH!" and although she got some looks, we gave some looks to others as good as we got.

Tony and I were talking about how we can take Janey back to the Old Country for her birthday. It's good to know a place that's truly a treat for her, even if it's not our choice. It's great we are able to include her in the family tradition of advocating for favorite eateries and dissing everyone else's as loudly as possible. It's fun to have her be just one of us.