I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

It’s late.  2:24 a.m. to be exact.

But this story needs to be told.

Tonight at 6:00 a 4 top walks in.  2 of them are people I don’t know.  2 of them are people are regulars and most often sit at the bar.

I panic.  They don’t have a reservation.  The woman of the couple, who sits at the bar, sees my panic and says, we are with our friends.  The reservation is in their name.

I make a show of wiping my brow and saying, thank god, because the bar is booked tonight and I didn’t want to disappoint you.

I look at their reservation and ask if they’d like to sit at the chef’s table.

The woman I know is super excited.  I get them all seated and the night goes on as planned.

They take forever.  I don’t care.  There is no turn on the table, and they are so sweet. 

At long last they come out and the woman I don’t know enters the lobby first.

I ask her how the meal was, and she exclaims that it was perfect.

Then she says, do you know why we are here?

And I say no why?

And she says because my husband and I got married on the same day, of the same month, of the same year that our friends got married.

I’m blown away by this.

The woman I do know is standing at the host stand now and says yes.  61 years ago today, we both married the man of our dreams. 

I make a comment, that after 61 years that she still seems to like her husband.  She then explains that they have been together since she was 13 and he was 15.  61 years married.

And I can’t help but smile.

They are so sweet.  And lovely.  And have dinner with us at least once a week. 

And I love them now more than ever. 

Although she did let me know they are traveling next week and won’t be back for two weeks.

I aspire to be them.