After being gone all day Wednesday, I thoroughly expected a stay-at-home day yesterday. After breakfast, I went downstairs and knitted two more babies and another strip for the baby blanket. Mr. FixIt got a call from the friend that was going to go to the funeral home with him last night saying he was sick as a dog and couldn’t go. He told Harry that was fine, he’d go alone. While I was cooking breakfast, he told me he was going anyway so Mike would know he cared.
As I was sitting in my studio working, I kept hearing that over and over in my mind, so at 3:30 I headed upstairs. I jumped in the shower and Mr. FixIt stuck his head in the door and said, “Are you going with me?”
“I sure am. You want to make sure Mike knows you care? Well, I want to make sure you know I care about YOU!”
I could hear the love and appreciation in his voice. We can tell people we love them till the cows come home. But when we get to SHOW them…well, that’s the key to a rewarding life. We didn’t get home till late. The funeral home is about an hour away. It was raining hard and getting foggy. Mr. FixIt suggested we drive back on the Ohio side of the river, but that turned out to be a mistake. By that time it was raining harder and it was REALLY foggy.
We decided to stop in Marietta for supper at IHOP. We’ve been there numerous times for breakfast after church, but never in the evening. When our waitress came to our table twice to introduce herself and forgot to bring the water we requested from the first time, I had a sinking feeling this wasn’t going to be the best experience. We wanted breakfast food and we always ask for eggs over easy and extra crispy bacon. He had hash browns and I had pancakes.
The eggs were barely cooked, the bacon was limp, and the pancakes were cold. I mean…cold. We asked to have the bacon crisped up and she took it away only to return less than a minute with oily bacon from dipping it in the deep fat fryer…which I can’t stand. It was still limp as a dish rag so I asked again to have it crispy. She took it away and about fifteen minutes later she brought us our check. I pointed out that we had never received the bacon and she was so apologetic. She asked about the rest of the meal and I was honest and told her what was wrong.
Bless her heart…she discounted everything. It wasn’t all her fault…they were short staffed and she wasn’t the one doing the cooking. I told her I understood…I’ve been in situations where things didn’t turn out right myself. I smiled and told her not to take it personally. And I gave her a tip. I’m not sure about her restaurant, but I’ve known some to take the money out of the waitstaff’s tips to cover discounts and I didn’t want to short change her. After all, she was out there working, trying to make a living in a pretty thankless job. Waiting tables may not be the career field this young lady sticks with, but for now she’s learning valuable lessons.
There is no good reason to become ugly to someone who is trying. There are far too many people these days who see nothing wrong with reading the riot act to someone for the smallest perceived infraction. Kindness goes a long way in this life and I will always try to take the high road in any given situation.
We finally got home around 8:30 last night…dangerously close to the hour when my brain becomes a pumpkin and my creativity goes out the window. I didn’t have any photos from yesterday and I sure wish I had a picture of the thick blanket of fog that settled on the river because it was remarkable. Instead, I’ll share one I took when I lived in big TOW-Wanda on the West Virginia side of the river back in 2015. That river is alive and looks different from minute to minute. It is fascinating and I truly loved living up there.
We don’t have anyplace to go today, but our belated Christmas celebration with our son’s family is tomorrow. I need to bake the Cinnamon Rolls and pick up around the house. And, I’ll spend a little time making more babies!
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”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.“
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
#Kindness, #Lessons, #Family