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Health & Fitness

Merlin's Magical Kingdom and the Debate

Finally, a restaurant in Marin where adults with kids can engage in conversation that will keep you thinking for days after...

I am a sucker for a decent pizza place where the kids can play on a (slightly germ infested) climbing structure while I sip a beer with good company. I recently met a few families for dinner and some playtime at such a place up at Merlin's Magical Kindom aka Round Table Pizza. I can’t believe no one had shared this little magical kingdom with me before. My kids loved this place. Pizza was consumed as dinner with no complaints, and the added bonus... the adults were able to talk. Imagine that... a dinner conversation while kids are around.  That’s pretty exciting for me. One of my favorite topics of that evening was the debate of “Who’s hotter, a fireman or a policeman?” I had never really considered this before. 

Everyone seemed to be in favor of the firemen. I was trying to think about past experiences and offer solid evidence to help support this argument.  I reported that I was once helped by a checkout clerk at a grocery store in Larkspur who was so in favor of the hotness of  the fireman exiting her lane, that she could not even help us until he was at the door with one last final wave goodbye. Her eyes could not leave him as he was exiting the door. She looked at me with that pleased look on her face (like she'd just had a day at the spa), and I nodded my head knowingly said,

“I totally get it... you don’t have to say anything.”

But she did. Oh how she went on and on and on about how nice it is working there because the firemen come in everyday.  She paused from talking about how much she preferred them only to reprimand a  lovely fireman who had missed her lane for checkout and gone to the “cuter checker” (her words not mine) a few lanes over .

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This debate was fresh in my mind when I was pulled over by a very hot police man in the Northgate Mall parking lot. I wasn’t pulled over so much as I was hanging up the phone talking to my grandma Lola in Florida  with many, “I love you... I miss you... I'll can't wait to see you again...” I opened my car door to see him standing there in all his glory, his cop car blocking mine. I have no idea if he’d had his lights on or what, but I looked at my phone and I  said,

“Oh, I shouldn’t be talking on the  phone while I'm driving.”

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He sounded surprised at my admission of guilt, “So, you know what you were doing is wrong?”

“I should have been using a head set... but my grandma called... I was worried..." blah blah blah. There are about a gazillion reasons why we need to use headsets or avoid talking on the phone while driving, I was definitely wrong. He could have cared less about my excuses.

If only he was standing there in a fireman outfit he wouldn’t be giving me a ticket... he might be saying stuff like, “It’s hot in Florida. Tell your grandma to drink water when she gets thirsty.”

If this same guy was standing in front of me in a fireman suit I wouldn’t be shaking like I was a teenager blurting out 101 reasons why I answered the phone without my headset on. And I was so conflicted too, because I really love that he is there to protect us. He’s doing his job. He’s protecting me. Even as I signed my ticket I knew that I deserved it.

I wanted him to know that I still really thought the world of him, so I start saying stuff like, “You know, my daughter always tells me how safe she feels because she sees so many police cars driving up around Dixie Elementary.” And I meant it! But I think he thought I was just trying to get out of my ticket. I wasn’t, I was just trying to give him props, but clearly he didn’t need any of that. He’s just out there to “protect and serve”.

Firemen vs. Policemen... 

When I return to Merlin’s Magical Kingdom (probably next week because I think it’s my new favorite place) I will probably still be torn in the debate over who’s hotter, but one thing that is for certain -  I will not pre-order my pizza while driving and talking on the cell phone without a hands-free device.

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