Tuesday, January 3, 2017 found me and my dearest friend, Laura, at Zaxby's in Georgetown having lunch together. It is amazing how hard it seems to be to fit this into our two schedules, but it is. And, when it happens, we are both very happy for some time to just sit and visit.
This time the man behind the counter at Zaxby's was a delight. He spoke loudly and cheerfully and it was like being in the television show "Cheers" where you felt like you were a part of a community and a happy one at that. I have never seen him at Zaxby's before but I believe he is a manager now. We placed our order and found our table. Then I heard him call over the speaker that order number ?? was ready. I hadn't paid attention to our order number and turned to Laura while trying to find the number on our receipt, "I think that is our number?" I said. Then we heard a loud voice over the speaker, "Yes, it is your order!" I turned to look at the counter by he wasn't there. Turns out there is a mirror that displays around the corner from the counter where their speaker is and he could see what I was doing and hear what I was saying. We all laughed at that moment.
Now, Laura and I sat and visited for a long time. When this doesn't happen but once or twice a year, one takes every moment they can for the occasion. We finished our meal. The nice man came and talked with us and took our tray of dirty dishes. We talked on and it came to the end of his shift. He came back with a plate with three chocolate chip cookies on it for us. He assured us he had a meeting to attend but we could stay as long as we liked, they didn't close till 11pm and he trusted us to stay after that! What a fun and very nice guy.
As it happened, Claude and I went to Zaxby's for dinner a few nights later. The same man was there. He didn't take our order but he did make the rounds of the tables to see how all the patrons were doing and if they needed anything. When he got to our table, clearly he recognized me and was searching his brain to see where he knew me from. He wasn't saying anything but you could tell. As friendly as he is, I'm sure he had lots of encounters to sort through. I looked up at him and said, "You know me, don't you? But you don't know where." He grinned and acknowledged that was the case. I then reminded him about Laura and I having lunch there a few days before. Then he grinned and remembered all. Again, Claude and I felt like we were in "Cheers" and someone yelled "Norm"!
Sunday, January 8th, the Church broadcast a Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults. Claude and I watched it on the BYU-TV Channel. These are always excellent broadcasts. President Russell M. Nelson and his wife Wendy were the guest speakers for this Devotional. Wendy Nelson is a Family Therapist and had taught at Brigham Young University. She gave a very direct and pointed talk about intimacy in marriage, its purpose and importance. It was refreshing to hear such direct and candid counsel. At one point she commented on wanting to give Pres. Nelson a special gift for their 10th anniversary to show the true joy he brought into her life. Then she said, "Here is the gift I gave him." and a picture was displayed on a huge screen. It was Pres. Nelson in a single rope and wood swing like one would hang from a tree. He was swinging and laughing. It was delightful.
Pres. Nelson started his talk with two comments alluding to his age. The first one was, "I no longer buy green bananas!" and the second was, "I can hide my own Easter eggs!". Claude and I are of this generation and I loved the cheerful looks at what life is like at this time of our lives.
At this time in our history, there is so much verbiage that is mean, filthy, hurtful and just painful to hear. I want to remember that there is lots of good verbiage that in fun, uplifting and insightful as well.
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