A picky eater with lots of allergies and her foodie husband visit The Lighthouse Restaurant

The Sweet Life

After getting all of Lynn’s dorm room necessities out of the car and into her suite*, we went to Walmart to buy cleaners and other supplies including a packet of chocolate chip cookies. When we returned to the dorm, Lynn went about searching for her cookie sheet and a potholder then proceeded to bake cookies so her roommates could have a sweet treat when they arrived. While she was busy in her kitchen, I paced around asking if I could help her unpack and organize her bedroom, but was shot down with a, “No, mom. Just sit. Thank you.” Twelve minutes later the cookies were plated with a note for the roommates and off we went to enjoy a late breakfast before saying goodbye to our sweet girl.

A Little Gain Without Back Pain

With the girl child settled into her new dorm to begin another year of college, it was time for Dan and I to begin the trek home. Unfortunately, the drive home is anywhere between thirteen and sixteen hours depending on traffic, debris, and random squirrels.  Just as long as the ride down, but this time there’s leg room which makes me extremely happy. After our last seemingly endless trip home, I had experienced intense back pain that rendered me a useless blob of spasming muscles and shaking bones. For two nights, I slept with my head atop no less than ten pillows in an attempt to straighten my spine back out. It worked, but I was not about to agree to a repeat of this level of pain, so I flirted my way into turning our venture home into a mini vacation. 

Pick Your Poison

In an effort to break up our traveling time and not break my back, we stopped at a Hampton Inn in Petersburg, Virginia. We had the choice of a questionable Mexican restaurant or a questionable seafood restaurant. Do we go with the spicy taco, sure to make me sick, or seafood, which will definitely make me sick. Well, only one had a hamburger on the menu, so seafood it was. The Lighthouse Restaurant was across the street, but with cars driving crazy fast around a crazy curve in the road, we decided to drive over to the brick building with blue-gray hurricane shutters announcing “CRAB”, “FISH”, “SEAFOOD”. 

We walked into the spacious, but empty restaurant at 6:30pm on a Sunday. My first thought was maybe we should head over to the Mexican restaurant instead, but my stomach reminded me of all the spices and since we were traveling, a hamburg at a seafood restaurant would be the safest option.

So we sat ourselves down at a booth, plexiglass table top showcased a ship’s steering wheel and paintings of dolphins. The bright aqua walls were decorated with paintings of lighthouses and sea captains. Within moments a friendly waitress plopped two menus and a bowl of what looked like fried worms. 

*The Suite

*Yes, a suite! I’m sorry, but I attended four different colleges during my educational career and the only time I had a suite was during my undergrad studies, senior year. My suite included two bedrooms and a shared bathroom for four girls. I thought that was the most amazing living situation ever! However, Lynn’s college does it differently. Her freshman year, she had the unfortunate experience of sharing her dorm room and also sharing a jack-and-jill style bathroom with the one freshman who lived on the other side. The horror! Her sophomore year, she shared a dorm room with one other student. This room was HUGE! Plenty of room for two beds, two desks, two bureaus, and two walk in closets. If you hung a disco ball you could easily boogie woogie without knocking into any furniture. But wait! There’s more! That dorm room was at the end of a hallway which connected the full kitchen, living room, and bathroom. Tub included. When asked if I should continue paying for a full meal plan, Lynn’s response was, “Yes! Absolutely! I use the dining hall to collect ingredients for the meals I prepare in my dorm room.” Grumble, grumble. I had assumed this dorm room was as good as it gets. I was wrong.

*More Like an Apartment

This year, she lives in a suite with three other girls. Each girl has her own bedroom. Each girl has her own bathroom. There is a lovely common room that they share, but since each bedroom has it’s own door for privacy, the girls typically keep to themselves and text each other when to meet for dinner or shopping or the occasional journey to campus to actually attend class. Lynn has it rough. She will never know the joy of walking wrapped in a towel wearing shower shoes while holding a caddy with too many bathing supplies down a long corridor to a bathroom shared by at least twenty girls then waiting for a shower stall while gripping your towel tightly around you hoping no one’s boyfriend decides to walk in because the men’s bathrooms are on the men’s floor above you. Sigh. 

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