A Sweet Time at Sweet Tomatoes

Today, our family went out to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. It is one of our favorite restaurants. It is a buffet that specializes in salads and soups, with some bread and pasta thrown in on the side. It means you can eat a lot and stay relatively healthy, unlike some buffets.

During lunch, we did the usual--a lot of talking, chatting, laughing, teasing and so on. When Nicole and Coryn went up to get some soup, they walked up with arms around each other's shoulders, talking a mile a minute. When Caspian walked up with me, he had me take his arm (I wasn't feeling my utmost best). We didn't take much note of any of this until the lady at the next table said, "Excuse me. Are you mom, dad and kids?" We said yes. She said that it was lovely to see a family enjoying each other's company so much. "You laugh and talk and it's clear how well you all get along," she said. "How wonderful it is to see that. You've done a wonderful job as parents." (Now of course, I was all ready to launch into a lecture about how it was all MY doing, but Joseph was sitting right there. . . . smirk. Just teasing. Could never do any of it without him.)

We thanked the woman and being us, we talked for a while. I ended up giving her a business card because she wanted to look at my books for her grandkids. It was a nice conversation and it served as an excellent reminder of how wonderful my family truly is.

The second reminder was a few minutes later. Throughout the meal, this one guy at another table (who looked a lot like a young Hank Azaria on drugs) kept getting up and, since he was wearing ear buds and apparently listening to music with a very steady beat, he danced his way from one place to another. Now, I'm not talking a little head bob or finger snap. I am talking head to toe jivin' and shakin'. When I first spotted him I suspected Tourette's but no, it was actually a dance. It was a hoot. We all managed to watch him without being rude and made guesses as to what he was listening to and how NOT thrilled his girlfriend was with his behavior.

As we were all walking out towards the door of the restaurant, my husband . . . . bless him . . . . was walking ahead of us and he began dancing like the other guy. I stopped and said, Oh dear lord . . . . and the kids all stopped and burst out laughing. They offered to let me walk with them so we could all pretend we didn't know him. Then Joseph challenged each one of them to dance too but they just dashed (dash, Nicole!) to the van.

Good moments both.
Both moments that will slip by and be lost in the stream of paying bills, meeting deadlines, doing laundry and marking days off calendars. Yet, both moments that make life so much sweeter. A sweet time at Sweet Tomatoes indeed.