After Dinner Conversation

Yesterday was our 26th anniversary. We'll have a get away sometime later this summer. For now, we just went out for dinner. I love going out with just my beloved. We always enjoy each other's company.

Last night we went to the Outback in Mobile. There was a very little boy sitting in the booth behind me. I could hear him talking to his mom and dad: very articulate. Mr. H and I talked about the restaurants we remembered going to as children. He grew up in California. There was a burger place his family went to called Oscars. They also went to Shakey's Pizza Parlor. For me, it was a burger place called T Willy's that my grandparents took us to. The first onion rings I ever had were from Tom Bradley's. I think he was a friend of my dad's that opened a restaurant, but since my dad never met a stranger, that could have been the first time they ever met!

As we were waiting to get our check, the little boy behind me said, "I'm sorry I didn't save you any chocolate. I ate it all gone." I turned around to see him for the first time. He was much younger than I would have thought from his conversation. He apologized again for not saving me any cake. I told him it was okay, I'd had plenty to eat. He cupped his hands together and offered them to me. "Here, take this present," he said. I cupped my hands over his to "take" the present. I peeked between my hands and said, "What is it?" "It's a toy duck!" he answered proudly. "To live in my bathtub," I said. "Thank you very much." I told him my little girl has a whole family of ducks in her bathtub, so it wouldn't be lonely.

Since he had been eating chocolate cake, I asked if it was his birthday. He checked with his mom and told me his birthday was July 19th. I asked how old he would be. He checked the fingers of both hands, consulted with his mom again, and said he was 2 now and would be 3 later. Wow! What a conversationalist at such a young age! I told him he could tell me "Happy Anniversary." He gave it his best shot: "Happy Anni...Birthday!"

Mr. H and I have relatively self-confident children. But they would NEVER dream of striking up conversations with complete strangers, even with both of us in close proximity. I guess that's why God created so many different kinds of people. If everyone were shy, no one would ever meet anyone else. I'm not sure what would happen if everyone were as outgoing as my new little friend. I guess everyone would be striking up conversations, but no one would be listening. We need to share, but we need to listen, too.