The Kindness of Strangers

It has been 6 days since my surgery & today I finally had enough energy to venture out of the house for some fresh air.

I decided to take myself to lunch @ Panera Bread mainly because I was feenin’ for some French onion soup. My one concern about venturing out was the weather because it was snowing & I am still trying to get the hang of my crutches. Thank God I have a handicap sticker because when I got to Panera, the parking lot was off the hook.

So I get into the restaurant & there were no seats available & I had to figure out how I was going to get my tray to a table with crutches. Luckily I was able to get the cashier to deliver my tray to me.

Now that I had my challenge of getting my meal to a table, I just had to figure out where I was going to sit in the packed restaurant. Like I said it was absolutely packed with people so I am feeling like I was looking stupid trying hopping around on crutches looking pathetic.

After a while I heard an woman call out to me & asked me if I minded sharing a table with her so I happily & quickly said no don’t mind & thanks so much!

My new table & lunch mate was Michelle, a 70 y.o. English realtor who does not mind sharing a table in “European style”.

During our conversation, Michelle told me how she comes to Panera all the time & gets annoyed at how people are not willing to share their space. She then told me that at the age of 70 she does not mind bothering a lone person who is hogging up a table meant for 4 people.

While I shared the table with Michelle, we had a really good conversation about everything from my missed opportunity to go to the UK, her double knee replacement, our stupid president, soldiers numbers in the useless war in Iraq & Barack Obama. I thought it was so interesting on how we seemed to have the same opinion on the same topics & yet are so different from one another.

Next time I see someone in distress handicapped or not trying to get a table in a cramped café, I will mos def open up my empty seat if I have one. The kindness of Michelle was right on time for this temporarily handicapped stranger.

By the way, I really like introducing myself as Tafari.