Float Friday: the origin story.

Yesterday I had to go to Costco. 

We were out of apples and animal cookies. 

Food has always been a thing for us…a complicated thing. 

But apples and animal cookies are necessities. 

We’ve spent most of his life either feeding him before we go out to eat somewhere or searching menus before deciding on a place to eat. Is there rice available? Chicken? Is the pizza dough dairy free? Do the friends have offensive seasonings? 

The first place we’ve all been able to consistently agree on is The Float. 

The Float is- well, it’s a little like Cheers. You can hardly go in there without running into friends. It’s got chill vibes, incredible sports memorabilia all over the place, a dozen tvs, and a really good breakfast. There’s live music on the weekends and karaoke. All of that to say, Seton isn’t really the target market. But he is probably the Float’s biggest fan. 

Early last spring we were sitting around a table at the Float, and when the waitress came over to take our orders- he ordered his own food. 

He’d never done that before. 

I teared up, because little victories. 

A few days before that, in a morning meeting at school the question of the day was what is your favorite restaurant. 

His answer? 

The Float. 

Fridays used to be Pizza Day. (A cheese pizza, hold the cheese because #dairyfree) Shortly after the Float became his favorite restaurant, Fridays became known as Float Day in our house. He orders the same thing every time. (Ken and I tend to order a few different things.) One Friday when he met Pat (who owns the Float) he was equally impressed and excited and then he smiled the entire rest of the night. Friends will text me and ask what time we’re headed to the Float because they know we’ll be there and want to join. One week a group of friends pulled in and one of them said “Emily’s here” when they saw my car in the parking lot. 

I don’t know why he loves it, but he LOVES it. It’s usually crowded, sometimes noisy, and you can’t get lunch until 1:30 on the weekends- a fact that he has committed to memory. One week the waitress asked if he was going to switch it up and he scoffed before he loudly declared NO. He likes to pick the table, he has on more than one occasion let us know that the sprite syrup needed changed. I think one of his favorite things about the Float is he can be himself. He can be loud and nobody cares. He knows how it’s going to look, how it’s going to sound. He can order the same food and drink and it’s going to be the same. It feels safe. It feels welcoming and inviting. And don’t we all want to be somewhere like that? I mean the chicken strips are just a bonus. 

So that’s the origin story of Float Friday. 

Pat, if you had apples and animal cookies I’m not sure we’d ever leave.