My Coffee Shop Story

My school day on Tuesdays is 9 hours long. 
9.
9 hours. 
Hello, I've been a stay at home mom for nearly 17 years.....I'm
ahem...
still adjusting.

Though I love it, looooooove it
I have found that it necessitates varying amounts of caffeine to sustain my energy that long.
You can laugh at me.
I'm a wimp.
This I know.
Hat's off to ya working momma's.  
I do not understand how you do it.
Props to you. Big, giant massive props. 

So on Tuesdays I kinda have developed a system.
I drop the kids off at school
and I hit the Bux' to get a venti somethin somethin
and off I go until I return home sometime around 6pm.

Last Tuesday it was raining.
And I, in my
I will use any excuse to get out of my yoga pants because I've been at SAHM for 17 years,
was wearing a sundress with flip flops to class.
Mind you, it was about 85 degrees, but rain or shine, I love me some sundresses.

Funny thing about rain:
Quite sometime ago a brilliant man invented this:

Which comes in handy with aforementioned water propelling from the sky.

So I got out my magical

and went inside.

Now to get inside I had to/have to every week, drive around all of the insane traffic and park in the parking lot that is always nearly empty and is about 25 steps from the front door of the Bux'.
I stepped out of Nimitz size vehicle that I drive
popped open my

and me and my sundress clip clopped inside.
I Inhaled the smell of freshly brewed goodness.
Paid them $367 for my cuppa coffee(thanks for the Thank You For Going To China With Me Gift Card Lori!)
and I'm out. 

There were approximately 800 people in the drive through and in the surrounding area trying to jockey for position that rainy day...and every other day.
Men in business suits driving fancy cars.
Women in professional dress driving fancy cars.
Construction workers driving utility trucks.
All manner of human life was there with me as they are most every Tuesday morning when I arrive.
And every Tuesday it's the same scene.
Chaos on the outside....
me and three other people on the inside.

What.The. Heck.

I'm not anti drive-through.
Oh I get it.
I SO TOTALLY GET IT.
My car has been through so many drive-throughs that everytime it sees one it automatically steers straight toward it.
Sometimes it's waaayy faster.
Sometimes it's much easier.
Moms with little kids, HOLLA!
So. Been. There. 
The drive through is for you!!
Go! Go get your drive through on!
No way you need to get two tiny tots out of their carseats and wrangle them in a coffee shop.
DRIVE. THROUGH. Sister girl! You deserve your own lane!

But the rest of us?
Without tiny kids in our cars?
Here's my question:

What the heck are we doing? 

I've been going through this Tuesday morning coffee routine for a few months now and each time it's the same scene and it was the day of the rain, sundress and flip flops that was really the catalyst for me to take in the whole picture as I walked across the parking lot.
And I saw them.
And I watched them.
And I studied them.
And I observed them dressed for work, flipping through their phones while not moving in the line.
And here's what I realized:
Dudes.
I'm a girl.
I'm a girl in a sundress and flip flops and I can use my magical

Why can you not, dear man, get out of your Lexus and walk inside?
Why are you, dear single lady, getting irritated at the other 798 people around you when you could very well
*GASP!*
WALK
INSIDE.

I think I have figured out where this started and the answer is:
Right across the street from my house.
My kids go to school roughly four blocks from where we live.
It's lovely.
But here's the thing....
when it rains....
WE HAVE TO GO PICK THEM UP.
Say wha???
The first time it happened when we first moved in I had to contain my laughter as I watched a few raindrops glide gently down from the sky.
And now...honestly....I just find it ridiculous.
Thunder? Yep. I'm going to pick them up.
Lightning? Oh heck yes, I'm going over there.
But rain?

R.
A.
I.
N.?

Literally WATER??
Was there a news story I missed?
Child perishes from walking four blocks home in the rain. Water droplet entered his eye. Hair got wet. More on the 10 News @ 9.
So as I walk my sons home in the deadly rain each time I can't help but wonder where and when they are supposed to learn to be MEN.
Ya know, men that can still change a tire in the RAIN.
Men that will hand their umbrella over to a lady without one cuz they are MEN.

But, ahem.....back to my story:
I just wonder if when every. single. week. I park and walk inside and come out with my coffee whilst each of them have only moved about 8 inches in the line if it too started with them not being allowed to walk home in the rain?

I'm just curious.
I'm curious if we all even think about it anymore.
I guess it only occurs to me to park and walk because I am just not that patient to wait in a line that barely moves,
so maybe they are just smarter than me...
and more patient. 

I dunno.
But as for me and my house,
we will walk in our sundress and flip flops.