An Evening Out With My Son, Johnathan, and His Family

Last evening (9-15-14), my son, Johnathan, his wife, Carissa, and their two children, Hunter, 3, and baby Kennedy, 7 weeks old, and I enjoyed eating out at Country Kitchen here in Hannibal.  While Johnathan and Carissa were seating their children, I visited with our waitress a few feet away, who I found out was about age 22, a few months along 'with child' and hoped to go to cosmetology school one day.

With out menus in front of us, I noted that my daughter-in-law, Carissa, was not looking at hers too closely and I found out that Carissa's mind was preoccupied on something else and was not able to think about what to eat and when our waitress came by to take our order, she asked, "Are you ready to order?" and Carissa quickly assured her, "No."  And then we visited some more and 10 minutes later, our waitress came by and asked us again,  "Are you ready to order?"  And I told her, "I think that  some of us are." Carissa, sitting across from me, gave me her "wide-eyed look" with her Scarlett Johansson smile on her face, and I kind of laughed and I told our waitress, "This is my daughter-in-law", and I stressed, "And she is a very special person."

Our waitress replied, "Well, I thought either that or she was  your daughter."

I pointed to Johnathan and told her, "This is my son," and Johnathan told her, "Yeah, he owns me."

We placed our order and had a very good time visiting with Hunter doing what 3-year-old boys enjoy to do, climbing under the table and walking around a bit, but overall, Hunter was a very good boy, doing a little coloring before our meal.

Towards the end of our meal, our waitress came by and asked me if I wanted a refill on my water and I initially declined and then told her, "Oh, you've already got it here with you. Well, since you've got it here, sure, I'll take a refill.  I wouldn't want you to hate me," causing the waitress to laugh in a rather uncertain way. Before the waitress walked away, I turned towards her and explained to her, "One thing that you need to know about me is that when I tease a woman, that means that I really like that person."

Our waitress quietly replied, "Well, I feel like I'm really liked," causing me to laugh.  And in a very dramatic voice, Carissa strongly implored our waitress, "RUUUUUUN!" causing me to laugh even harder.

My Encounter With a Couple From Iowa

Here is an amusing experience that I had that I recently shared with a relative through a "snail mail" that I thought some of you might enjoy----as I certainly enjoy telling it:

About 12 years ago or so, I went to a gas station here in Hannibal on Highway 61 to fill up my car with gas. And on the other side of my pump was a small SUV with Iowa plates owned by a white couple in their late 20s or early 30s and the man was a muscular guy with a shaven head who had a navy blue handherchief wrapped around his bald head with that little flowers pattern -- for some reason, this guy really irritated me.

Then his wife comes around behind their vehicle with her foot all wrapped up in a bandage and wearing a walking cast on that foot. I told her, "Oh, I wore one of those a few years ago when I had surgery to remove an enlarged nerve from the top of my foot," and I took my shoe off to show her my incision mark.

With her husband looking on, this woman exclaimed, "Oh, that's the same surgery that I had!"

I then added a little levity by telling her, "Now, whether your husband can handle it when you take the bandage off, I don't know."

I did get serious with her by telling her, "Now, when your doctor gives you the 'okay' to wear a regular shoe, be sure to baby your foot for a while because I didn't and I did too much, too soon and I suffered immensely."

I then told her husband, "Now, whether or not your marriage will be able to handle it after she takes her bandage off, it just depends on how strong your marriage was before the surgery."

With this man and his wife looking down at her foot in a walking cast, after a few seconds, this man told his wife, "Well, you might as well head on down the road without me, then." And his wife and I roared out laughing!!