"62 Years and She's Still the Prettiest Girl"

     There are some days where my faith in the human race are seriously diminished. Everyone has had those days. But then there are days like today where my whole outlook on the human population is seriously brightened. I had probably one of the best days at work that I've had in a very long time. Although it didn't start out that way.
     The one problem with working a restaurant that specializes in delicious comfort food is that when it comes to the summer time and it gets hot not too many people want to go out and eat a heavy meal. We still have our regulars that eat there come hell or high water but it is hard to deny that the numbers of tables that come in seriously diminishes in the hotter months. As a result it gets to be really slow for us servers, the downtime between our tables extends because we just don't have as many tables as we do in the colder months. Which, let's be real here, can be a major struggle. In short it gets boring. So it wasn't such a stretch for me to assume that the rest of my shift would be slow and I would get a lot of the little odds and ends finished up in the back that usually go overlooked when there are a lot of customers to serve. And for the most part I was right, it wasn't until the end of my shift that things got interesting.
     At around 3:30 (my shift was over around 4:00), this older couple came in and I greeted them like any other table and as I was leaving to go and grab their drinks the man grabbed my arm and let me know that they were celebrating their wedding anniversary. He then asked me to guess which anniversary it was. Now I have learned to avoid answering questions like that, because it really can lead to disaster, so I just smiled and waited for them to tell me. In my head I had guess 50 maybe 55 years at the most. I was completely shocked when he told me that they were celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary today.
      I can't even imagine that. 62 years married to the same person? That is truly incredible. And even better? He grabbed my elbow a little later, after I had dropped off their meal and said to me, "Now isn't my bride beautiful? It's been 62 years and she still takes my breath away every time she smiles." I honestly thought that I was going to melt. That was probably the sweetest thing that I have ever heard, and I can only hope that someone will say that about me one day. I can only hope that somewhere there is someone who will want to put up with me for 62+ years haha.
     If that was the only awesome thing that happened I would write this off as a fantastic day, but there was one more incident at work today that made it even better. Another one of my tables overheard that it was the older couple's 62nd anniversary and they pulled me aside and asked if they could pay for them. It's been awhile since I've had encounters in my life that are inspiring like that. I love that there are still people in the world that are just as inspired as I am by a couple celebrating 62 years of marriage. I love that there are people who are generous enough to be willing to pay for the meal of complete strangers. It's days like today that remind me why I am still working at the grub. Like I said, one of the greatest days ever!

Much love,

-L

Send Her an Angel

So there is this song called "Send Her an Angel" by a group called Jackson Waters, and I have a small obsession with it. I absolutely adore the concept of sending an angel to comfort someone through the night and through their crazy life. While I didn't exactly identify with the lyrics as they are presented in the song {if you haven't ever heard the song I advise you to go listen to it now because this post might give you the wrong idea about it} I was struck by the concept. It was almost as if I was comforted by the concept because I feel like I have had angels sent into my life to comfort me through the crazy times in my life. 

I especially feel this way about a few people that I have met in the past couple of years. I mean I love my family and the friends that I have known for years now, but what I want to focus on here are the people that I have met only recently that I feel like have been sent into my life for a reason.

Now I am only going to mention a few but that does not mean that there aren't more people that have made a difference in my life in the past couple of years. These are just the people that I feel have made the biggest and most impressionable difference on me.

First off I want to say that the majority of the people I am going to mention are from the Grub. It's a common hazard I guess when you clock as many hours there as I seem to be doing. But in all reality I am truly blessed to be able to work there. It is amazing that so many different people from so many different backgrounds can bond in the way that we have. There is this sign in the back that says "Cowboy Family" and that is what we are. There is a special bond at the Grub that makes you feel as if you are in a family. Oh sure at times we are an intensely dysfunctional family, but we still love each other at the end of the day.

I love my fellow Grubstars so much, and I love working there.

The first person that I want to mention is Dani. Now when I first met Dani I thought yeah this girl is chill but I doubt we will ever be closer than coworkers {Sorry Dani!!! I got over that though!!} As I got to know her better, though, I found out that this girl was truly amazing. She was more than just chill, she was fun to be around, easy to talk to, and easy to work with. I was amazed at how quickly we were becoming friends. I have always had a hard time creating relationships with girls, I never really got along with them, so I was surprised that this softball player from Logan was becoming one of my closest friends. I admire Dani so much for her ability to listen to all my drama and not once pass a judgment down on me. She has helped me through so much crap in my life, even if she didn't think she was helping because all she was doing was listening, but at those times that is what I needed the most from somebody. Dani is a fiercely loyal person, you don't mess with her family, her friends, her sport or her Red Sox, and I really admire her for that. {Even if I love my Orioles haha}. I am amazed that someone can become such an important part of your life in such a short amount of time, but I am so grateful that they can. I love ya Dani, thanks for putting up with my special brand of crazy white chick ;)

The next person I want to mention is Molly. Now I have worked with Molly for three almost four years now but I only really started to get to know her in the past year when I made the shift from hostess to server. Molly has one of the purest hearts and sweetest spirits ever. She is truly one of the nicest people you will ever meet and I am so glad to have met her and to be able to work with her. I admire her ability to be such a sweet person and still be able to get what needs to be done, done. I also love that she can take charge of a situation without turning into a complete douche bag {which is one of the reasons that our staff loves and respects her so much}. Molly has the unique ability to look at someone and know when they are feeling overwhelmed or having a particularly bad day and she will look them in the eye and say something to the effect of "Well I still love you if that helps" and it almost always, always does help. I can recall a few truly hellish days that were made much brighter by her looking at me and telling me that she still loved me even if I felt like the rest of the world was out to get me. I remember telling a girl that used to work at the Grub that I wanted to be Molly when I grew up, and you know what? That's still kind of true, Molly is so wonderful and I love her a lot.

To round off the Grubbers that I feel have been sent into my life for a reason I want to mention Rachel and Morgan. I group them together not because they are any less special to me than Dani and Molly but because they both provide the same support for me. Both these amazing girls listen. Yeah, that's it. And while that may seem painfully simple it is a huge deal for me. I often feel like I go through life not being listened to or heard so it's always wonderful to me to know that someone will listen to me. And both Morgan and Rachel do. They will sit and listen to my stories even they end up being totally dull they still listen, and they have no idea how much I appreciate that. They also both encourage me to make good decisions in my life. Not that I'm a bad person who makes bad decisions, because I'm not, they just encourage me to pick the better of two decisions, every single time. I really appreciate that too. Like I said, it is truly a blessing to work at the Grub and to become part of that Cowboy Grub family.

And to round this post off I want to mention someone that I met in one of my classes about a year and a half ago now. However, he found out that I was planning on writing this post and asked me to leave out his name. He's shy I guess....whatever...he knows who he is and that is all that matters I guess haha. This kid is one of my very best friends. Whenever I need a laugh I know that I can go to him and he will put a smile on my face in a matter of minutes. Even though he and I have had our ups and our downs I know that he will always be there for me when it really counts. I know that he will protect me if it ever came to that. I love knowing that he will come to my defense if I ever needed him to and I love knowing that if I have a bad day I can come to him when I need someone to hold on to and not have try to "fix" it. I love knowing that he's there for me and I am so grateful to the love of his life for their willingness to allow him to be one of my best friends {I say that because not a whole lot of people would be comfortable with the relationship we have, no I have no plans to steal him away, because I wouldn't succeed even if I wanted to}. 

I truly love my friends and feel so blessed to have them in my life.

My mom and my grandma like to say that certain people are "prayed" into our lives and with the people that are important to me in my life I know that that is most definitely true. The people that I hold dear in my life I believe were sent onto my path for a purpose, and I am eternally grateful.

I love you guys so much!!

Much love,
-L