Every day is a new adventure. It is not always a very exciting adventure, but it is an adventure. Today's adventure began by turning on the news to see the weather and discovering there was an accident on the highway interchange near my home. It was mildly exciting to hear on the television news of an accident a mile from my home. In fact, when my daughter also heard the breaking news report, she suggested I drive past the accident. (As I had no other reason to drive in that direction, I passed on her suggestion.)
After driving my daughter to the bus stop this morning (something I was expected to do today since the same cold weather was present as yesterday -- trust my teenager to apply reasoning to whether or not she will receive a ride to her bus stop), I performed my daily routine of checking email, Facebook, blog statistics, book sales, etc. while drinking a nice. hot cup of French Vanilla coffee-drink (mmm...), then going upstairs for my shower and getting ready for my day. Then it was back to my computer for a little while before heading out to lunch.
Do I have to go out for lunch? No, I do not. But it adds flavor to my life, giving me a reason to go out of the house and an excuse to talk to servers and fellow customers. Today, I decided to treat myself to a diner called Gyros West. This little diner is a family owned and operated place located in the nearby city where I attended college, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Under normal circumstances, I generally go there with my daughter about once a month or so. But today I was hungry for gyros because my dad's birthday was yesterday and he went to Gyros West to redeem his "birthday club" dinner coupon. I did not go with Dad to redeem his coupon, but I did hear where he went...which left me thinking of gyros.
Sitting inside of Gyros West can be like visiting another era if you take time to stop and look around. It is Christmas time now, so there is a wreath on the door, garlands on the windows, and poinsettias as every table centerpiece. A christmas tree, decorated with lights, gold ornaments, poinsettia blossoms and multicolored beads stands near the cash register. But this is not what gives the restaurant such a classic atmosphere. The thing that does it is the service.
When I ordered my gyro and fries for lunch, I had a pen and paper with me to do a little writing. I wrote two senteces before my food arrived. As I ate and wrote, my glass never got below half full before someone offered to refill it for me. I saw the owner pop his head out of the kitchen several times while I ate to just sort of look over everything and make sure it was running smoothly, and I watched his mother walking around the restaurant interacting with customers the whole time I was there. It was really nice.
Why does this experience hit my blog today? Because I said every day is a new adventure. Adventures are not always incredibly adventurous, but they all have their places. Today, part of my adventure included observing a family run their business with pride and taking great care to do it right. It really reminded me of what the American dream is all about. It was a great pleasure to include it in my ever-changing daily adventure.
Do I have to go out for lunch? No, I do not. But it adds flavor to my life, giving me a reason to go out of the house and an excuse to talk to servers and fellow customers. Today, I decided to treat myself to a diner called Gyros West. This little diner is a family owned and operated place located in the nearby city where I attended college, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Under normal circumstances, I generally go there with my daughter about once a month or so. But today I was hungry for gyros because my dad's birthday was yesterday and he went to Gyros West to redeem his "birthday club" dinner coupon. I did not go with Dad to redeem his coupon, but I did hear where he went...which left me thinking of gyros.
Sitting inside of Gyros West can be like visiting another era if you take time to stop and look around. It is Christmas time now, so there is a wreath on the door, garlands on the windows, and poinsettias as every table centerpiece. A christmas tree, decorated with lights, gold ornaments, poinsettia blossoms and multicolored beads stands near the cash register. But this is not what gives the restaurant such a classic atmosphere. The thing that does it is the service.
When I ordered my gyro and fries for lunch, I had a pen and paper with me to do a little writing. I wrote two senteces before my food arrived. As I ate and wrote, my glass never got below half full before someone offered to refill it for me. I saw the owner pop his head out of the kitchen several times while I ate to just sort of look over everything and make sure it was running smoothly, and I watched his mother walking around the restaurant interacting with customers the whole time I was there. It was really nice.
Why does this experience hit my blog today? Because I said every day is a new adventure. Adventures are not always incredibly adventurous, but they all have their places. Today, part of my adventure included observing a family run their business with pride and taking great care to do it right. It really reminded me of what the American dream is all about. It was a great pleasure to include it in my ever-changing daily adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment