Being Alone

My husband always agreed with me that Sunday was not a time for cooking at home so we usually went to a restaurant after church for a noon dinner together. Since I was widowed a few years back I've been alone on Sundays and I miss that. Eating out alone always makes me feel more lonely than being alone at home.

Last Sunday, however,  on my way home from church I suddenly decided to treat myself to dinner out anyway, and here's what happened.

After going over in my mind a choice of restaurants, I settled on Chili's. As I approached the front door I was a few paces behind a young family with two little boys. The dad, a big husky fellow, waited to hold the door for me. I thanked him and soon we were approached by the hostess.

"Are you all one party?" she asked. I nodded no and held up one finger for myself, indicating she should seat the family first. Well, besides mom and dad and the little boys, there was a grandma in the group. She surprised me by saying, "Alone?" (Did I detect a hint of sympathy?) "Say, if you don't mind some lively boys, we'd love to have you join us."

I was surprised and ordinarily would have declined politely, but I heard myself say, "Really?" I looked at the mom and dad. I think grandma had surprised them too but they smiled and said, "Sure, come on along," as they were led to a large table.Well, I did. It would have been totally ungracious of me not to.

Before long we had ordered (I asked for a separate check) and I noticed that the boys were identical twins and cute as children two years old can be. Occasionally one would glance my way but then turn his interest toward the basket of potato chips his brother was dipping into. Their mom had ordered them the first thing. She said, "I know these are not so good for the kids but they love them and only get them the few times we go out. It keeps them better company for everyone." I agreed and said, "I can see you and your husband are good parents. The children are lively but well-behaved for two year olds, and yet neither of you scold them." It was not surprising to learn that she worked as an elementary school counselor.

"So, what is your line of work?" I asked the dad. "I work for the park service now, " he said, "but for the past four years I've been in the Marine Corps." At that I told him about my husband who had served in the Marines for twenty-three years and had fought in World War II and Korea. "He bore shrapnel in his shoulder the rest of his life," I said, "His plane was hit by a Japanese Zero but he got it down safely." Then the dad pulled up a sleeve and showed me shrapnel still lodged in his arm from a roadside bomb in Iraq. "I've got one here too," he said, as he pointed to a spot not more than an inch from his eye.  "That one even entered my brain and it's left me with some short term loss of memory."

"He was awarded two Purple Hearts," his wife said. "Well, I got home with all my limbs," he said, and added quietly, "Some of my buddies didn't." He looked down at his plate then and, as if not wanting to talk more about that, he said, "I'll always be proud to be a Marine."

It was then that the grandmother told me she lives with the family and has ever since they learned they would be having twins. "Well, I'm sure you've been a great help," I said, and I thought, Gosh she's a generation younger than I!

Conversation flowed freely with frequent minor interruptions by the boys and our dinner went by fast. As we got ready to leave the grandma stopped halfway through putting on her coat and looked at me saying, "My goodness! I hadn't thought about this 'till just now but the last thing our pastor told us before going home from church today was  'Go out and greet a stranger today!'"

"Well, you certainly did!" I replied. "This has never happened to me before, but it was a great pleasure to meet you and your family. And it's a funny thing, but I had every intention of going to another restaurant until I saw Chili's and remembered the good meals I've had there with my husband . It seemed I was drawn here today."

We parted company saying we hoped to see each other again sometime and I thanked them. As I walked out to my car I noticed all the holiday lights and felt a warm glow in my heart. It was, indeed,  a distinct feeling of Christmas!