Taj Mahal…with ALL THESE KIDS

After finishing the lunch buffet at Taj Mahal Indian restaurant in Lancaster, ALL children needed to use the bathroom. Upon entering the hallway to the bathroom, they became enamoured with the beaded curtain separating the dining room from the bathroom corridor, adding several minutes to the already laborious bathroom routine that sweeps thru their small, overly efficient digestive systems after a meal. By the time everyone returned, the table had been cleared and the restaurant was almost empty (it had been completely full when we arrived). I asked a waiter if we needed to pay at the register or if the check would be brought to the table. She walked away to get our check and stayed away for another 5-7 minutes (which feels like forever when you’re keeping your kids from running their customary post lunch laps) She returned and told us in broken english that our bill had been paid. Surprised, Chris asked by whom? She motioned to the only other table of people left in the restaurant…a family of seven…with teenaged children…a set of twin girls in there. After the redness in our faces subsided (as the kids kept loudly asking “Who paid our bill!?”) we approached their table to thank them. The mother and father (of 8 kids total, their married children weren’t present) told us we reminded them of themselves not that many years ago. They said what a delight all their children have been to them and they expressed understanding that a large family isn’t always something people have positive opinions about, but that it’s such a special gift, and so worth it. While it was delightful to leave with our 60ish bucks, it was even more delightful to leave with their kind, encouraging words…especially in my 8 month pregnant “here we go again” condition. In a world with four person max capacity hotel rooms and food products featuring the words “family sized” that feed only half of the people you’re trying to sustain through another meal…and yes, most people with an opinion about “all those kids”, it’s nice to know that there are other crazies out there who have made it to the other side of raising a big, occasionally unmanageable family and can look back with enough fondness on the years that we are currently in to want to bless and encourage us in a profound way. Their actions spoke volumes to the kids, and I can’t wait to do the same to some overwhelmed, unsuspecting family someday. In the words of Michael Scott, “When I grow up, I wanna have a hundred kids…that way I’ll have at least a hundred friends.”