Column: On the Roof

There is an infamous scene from the television show "Breaking Bad" where the main character tosses a pizza on the roof of his home in a fit of rage. As bizarre as that may sound, it seemed completely normal to me.

While it wasn't a pizza, I had once done the same thing, and at the time it seemed quite appropriate.

To preface the story, I have four sisters and am closer with my sisters Jenny and Megan. I am ten years older than Megan, and would often times have to watch her during the summer months. We would usually get along, but she also displays a stubborn side and when this happens its probably easier to get something done at the DMV then dealing with her.

When she was around eight or nine she got into this "I need to eat at McDonalds" around 117 times a week phase. Each and every morning, she would inform me that she wanted a Happy Meal for lunch. This would start at around 9 a.m. and around 11 the frequency would increase. If I told her no, she would go into a frenzy that would make Charles Manson look sane.

On one fateful day Megan was extra vicious with her demands for the fast food. I would often times get her the food, but on this day I wanted nothing to do with it. There had been times when she got mad, including once when she threw a pan at me, but I wasn't going to cave in. I had about $5 to my name, and didn't want to use it for her so she could eat whatever the heck McDonalds meat really is.

After about three hours of her going bezerk, I finally stormed out of the house. I wasn't even thinking, I just got in the car and drove down the street. About halfway down the street I realized I just left a kid in the house by themselves and I freaked out. I'm sure she wasn't going to burn the house down and was versed on stranger danger, so I calmed down and in that moment of clarity decided I would make the five-minute trip to McDonalds and get her the stupid Happy Meal.

I was actually really excited to give her the food and see a bit of happiness from her rather than the screaming about lunch. She saw me pull up and came out of the house. I showed her the McDonalds and she informed she had just eaten a sandwich. I snapped, and wasn't sure whether I wanted to scream, curse, or stomp down the street.

My reaction was swift and I wadded the bag up and hurled it onto our roof. Was it a little bit insane, sure, but in my eyes it was totally justified. I always felt bad about the incident until years later when I saw the scene on "Breaking Bad". It was a full-circle moment. This wasn't a ghastly act I had committed, it was just something people do when they are mad. If I saw it on television, that made it justifiable. Looking back, I'm sure I probably got her McDonalds a few more times, but it never ended on the roof.

She's pretty picky about her food these days, so I'm not sure there are any trips at all for her to McDonalds, but there is always this story to tell.