Saturday, April 25, 2020

Scene from a restaurant in another lifetime

The waiting isn't necessarily the hardest part
Delray Beach, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram
The scene: An IHOP restaurant in Delray Beach, Florida on a sunny and warm Saturday morning this past December. As is often the case, folks are lined up out the door.

This is Sam. The hostess never asks his wife's name, so she'll forever remain a mystery. But Sam is another story. He chitchats with anyone within earshot, seemingly enthralled with the experience of waiting for a seat at an otherwise unassuming family-friendly pancake resto. He's having a good time, and he wants us to have one, too.

I pull out my phone and surreptitiously shoot this tiny, fleeting vignette because moments like this are anything but unassuming. We cross the path of strangers every day, and in doing so we'll be exposed to a full spectrum of experiences. Sometimes we'll smile and hope the moment never ends, while other times we'll simply want to turn away.

Something in Sam's genial manner made me choose the former, and wherever he is, I hope he's still got a lot of IHOP experiences ahead of him.

Because we all deserve to randomly meet up with strangers who seem to revel in brightening our lives.

Soon enough, I hope we get to return to this particular IHOP in Delray. If we're particularly lucky, we'll run into Sam again.

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Related: Watching a stranger wait for his wife, December 2017



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