public restrooms

why, oh why would you make a public restroom and not put doors on the stalls???

last night, dave and i got to go out for my birthday. we had a pretty good dinner at tgifridays... i say 'pretty good' because the service was a little bit lacking (and wasn't improved when our server dropped a tray of beverages on another customer), and my steak sandwich was next to impossible to eat. it was good, but weird and the bread wasn't big enough or strong enough to support what was on it. but i had a really big margarita, so that made up for it. you know, one of those margaritas that comes in a glass that's so big and heavy you have to use a straw or you feel like you're taking a swig out of a fish bowl every time you take a drink. so then we took a stroll through downtown kirkland and checked out the boats and stuff down at the marina. there were a lot of people and "accessory dogs" out. then we stopped off at ben and jerry's for an ice cream cone when we got a call from shane (the kids were home with my parents). dave saw that a call was coming in from my parents' phone and the conversation apparently went something like this:

dave: what did they do?
shane: hi dad.
dave: oh, hi shane.
shane: uh, where is the ice cream?
dave: it's gone. you guys ate it all this afternoon.
shane: oh.
dave: and why are you asking for ice cream when you already had it?
shane: uhhh.... (gives the phone to my mother)
mom: hi dave. shane said it was his night to have ice cream, but we couldn't find any.
dave: yeah, they finished the ice cream earlier today. and he doesn't have a night for ice cream.

so then we were headed back up to the car and at this point my gigantic margarita had kicked in and i decided to stop off at the restrooms by the baseball field. now, i don't generally go into an outdoor, parkside public restroom expecting much... but i do expect doors! but no, there were NO DOORS!! i walked in, realized this by the time i got to the first stall (which thankfully was empty) and, also realizing that there was someone in the last stall, i promptly walked back out. i was so apalled that i was going to leave. but i really had to pee and at that point the person who had been in the last stall had walked out and i figured that if i used the last stall and was really quick, i might get out before my use of a toilet became a spectator sport. fortunately, i was able to finish up in solitude and hurried on out (there was actually soap and paper towels - which i have come to consider a luxury in park restrooms). eeeewwww! we ended the night by doing some grocery shopping. i know, that doesn't sound like a very exciting thing to do while celebrating your birthday, but like i told dave, anytime i don't have to take my kids to the grocery store is a reason in itself to celebrate!