Almost a Flasher

So...

Last night was the big concert. My wife and daughter went out and got their hair done as well as purchased new outfits for the occasion. I'm assuming that the outfits are due to the fact that the mega superstar they were going to see had already seen them in all of their other outfits. Whatever. It was my daughter's first big concert so more power to 'em. Any hoo, this left me and my son with a boys' night out. But what should we do?

I had learned, earlier in the week, about an establishment in town who was organizing a flash mob for this very night. For those of you who don't know much about flash mobs, they are a group of hundreds of random people who ascend on a predetermined place at a predetermined time. They'll stay for a short period of time, maybe doing something maybe not, and then just leave as quickly as they showed up. This group was hoping for about 500 people to show up outside of the big concert before it started, have everyone freeze in random poses, hold those poses for three minutes, and then just jet. Basically, the whole idea is to amuse and confuse. And trust me, if I could have a motto that would sum up my goal in life, amuse and confuse would be it.

So at this point I'm excited. I've never been a part of a flash mob. Plus, it provided an opportunity to be, in a small way, part of the big concert the rest of my family was going to. I was concerned that my son would not be able stand still for three minutes, however. He barely can stay still for three minutes when he's asleep. He was talking about the different poses he was thinking about freezing in for a couple of days though, so I figured he was psyched about it. Then my wife reminded me of another option we could do with our time.

My son's school was hosting a fathers reading to their kids program that very night at the very same time the flash mob would be doing their thing. There would be cafeteria hot dogs and the kids would get a free book. My son, of course, was pretty excited about the free book. So now I'm stuck with a decision that could further my goal of amusing and confusing but leaving me looking like an ass of a father, or sharing a cold hot dog and a cheap book with my son because I know that's what he'd rather do. I know you're probably thinking that this was no choice at all. It was a no-brainer and the fact that I even had to think about it makes me look like a bad dad. Well I did think about it, so sue me. Deep down in my heart though, I knew how we would be spending our evening.

So we go get our hot dogs, bag of chips, and warm bottles of water. We pick out a book from a table filled with Clifford, Dora, and Scooby-Doo related reading material. We do our craft and head out. My son, who's not quite old enough to get the whole flash mob thing, asks if there is still time to do the freezing thing. I explain that it's already over and he tries to console me by saying that next time we can skip the book and go freezing.

The rest of the night offered ice cream from Dairy Queen, a rented copy of Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel (whatever the hell a "squeakquel" is), bath night, jamma time, and off to bed. So in the end, the choice was simple. Either three minutes of standing in place or a whole evening of interaction with my son. Almost a flasher but always a dad.