A Man Meets His Baby

An older gentleman came to our restaurant the other day and related the following story:

“I was deployed to Europe back in the day, and I had been married three weeks before being sent off. I spent a few months over there and came back and got a chance to visit my family. Well, shortly thereafter I was sent to Vietnam. I’d only spent a couple of months at home with my wife, visiting our parents, etc. when I had to leave.

I finished my tour in Vietnam and finally came home. I didn’t even call my father to come and get me from the bus station until I was there, in town, ready to come. He and my mother came to pick me up, but because communication back then wasn’t what it is now my wife did not know I was even back in the country. I decided to surprise her at church, because it was a Sunday.

Now she had given birth to our son while I had been in Vietnam so I had not yet had a chance to meet him face to face. I was looking forward to surprising her and also to meeting my little boy.

My parents brought me to the church but they went in by a different door, and I went around so I could enter the church at the front of the sanctuary. The service had started already and when everyone saw my parents walk in they thought something was wrong. But then I entered from the front of the room and my wife saw me and she was of course crying and hugging and kissing me and everything.

Then they brought my son to me. I held him in my arms, and we looked at each other for a moment. I smiled at him…and he smiled at me…and it was a very sweet moment. And then he PEED all over the front of my clothes! Apparently the smile didn’t mean what I thought it meant.”

What a great story! And his wife was standing some few feet away, grinning as she listened to him recount the story. It was real life, and it was beautiful in its tenderness and humor. It is interesting how the Hollywood representation of tender and emotional moments like this one is so often far from the reality. In real life babies pee on you. And we laugh about it.

God bless our Veterans!

“The Hunt for Red Chicken”

The kitchen area at our fast food restaurant is a lot like the submarines you see on Hollywood movies. You know, movies like “The Hunt for Red October” or “U-571″, or others. These are, I assume, accurate to the nature and procedures of real submarines and their crew.

In these movies the basic method for operating the submarine or it’s weapons is always to have an order given (“10 degrees on the dive plane”) and then it is immediately repeated by the crew member responsible for carrying out that order. (“10 degrees on the dive plain, Aye.”) Sometimes it’s repeated three times. (Captain – “All engines ahead full!” First Mate – “All engines ahead full!” Lowly sailor assigned to unglamorous throttle control – “Aye! Engines ahead full, aye sir!”)

Portraits – Feminism at 70-Something

We call her the “five-minute lady.” She usually comes to the drive-thru, and no matter what she orders, or what time of day it is, or how prepared we are to help her move along…she always takes about five minutes at the window. She’s always got to have the right amount of napkins (four), or perhaps she didn’t order the right drink, or she wants to add some dessert. Of course she has to ask how much each dessert costs in order to make her decision.

Tired of being stereo-typed

I am tired of people stereo-typing me. They look at me and automatically think “Bible-thumping, tie-wearing, stiff-necked, turning-man’s-law-into-God’s-law, weirdo!” Somehow I put off this persona of some strange, inmovable, unloving, strange, God-in-a-box Christian. Not sure how that happens. Maybe I need to have crazy hair, or get an earring? Does that indicate to others that you are somehow not “judgemental”? That seems a little ridiculous to me. Well, I better get to sleep. Coming soon, the similarity between a fast-food kitchen and a submarine…

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! God has truly blessed us this Christmas, beyond anything we would ever have expected. So much so that we are able to bless others. God grant y’all more of Himself this year.

Portraits – Mr. Johnny

Among the regulars of our restaurant, there is one that you might be able to call the “mayor” of the little community of consistent customers that come in every morning. His name is Mr. Johnny. He’s in his fifties, and everyone knows Mr. Johnny. He’s been coming to our store almost every day for

Interesting post…and making money by blogging

So I’ve been reading this article about how to make money on a blog. Some interesting insights to say the least. It would be nice to make money from this blog. But, from what this guy is saying, I would probably need to post more often than once a month. (I’m not even sure I blog that often.) And I’d also need to focus this blog on one particular topic or area of interest, rather than just being a “catch-all.” Maybe I’ll just start one or two more. And besides the investment of time, it also takes a small investment of money which I can’t afford right now. But then again,

The most subtle tyrant

Funny how time flies… I have several things I’d like to do: blog more often, write more in general, clean up the yard, wash the car, back up my hard drive, etc. etc. etc. But it’s like all the time I think I’m going to have to do such things just disappears. (I know this post is not very interesting, but I’m just thinking out loud.)

Yet it always amazes me how soon my time has run out. It’s often frustrating because it seems I don’t get anything done. Some have called it the “tyranny of the urgent.” You get started on something then suddenly somethi…..

Yeah, kind of like that. Gotta run!

Portraits – Mr. Ted

He comes walking across the parking lot, sort of waddling in a strange side to side fashion. Almost a limp. Yet he has an athletic build and walks with a great deal of energy. Almost as if he was once a track star or athlete and an old injury keeps him from really showing off any more.

Portraits Series – Observations of Life from Behind the Counter

What is a portrait? It is a picture. It’s a window into the face, features, and deeper than that the personality, of the subject being portrayed. Traditionally the painter observes his subject and then portrays him, her, or it upon the canvas in a way that gives anyone who looks at the portrait a glimpse of the real person inside.

There is just one catch.