Waitresses from Heaven and Free Coffee

When I was young, I was a waitress. I was a waitress for many years. I remember all the people who came and went from my life and there were many. One couple who ate at the diner each week were really old (as I saw it) and really in love. Bill would help his wife out of the car and into the diner. They would always eat the same thing--cheese blintzes. I never thought much about the wig that Bill's wife wore on her head other than it wasn't very becoming. Then one day, after several years of seeing the two of them together, Bill came alone to the diner. He ordered the same food, but he had tears in his eyes. When he told me about his wife, water came from his nose and his mouth and his eyes. It was as if his soul was just washing out of his body. I was pretty young and I could see that he was lost and destroyed. I hadn't experienced such loss myself at that time so even though I was mortified, I could not ultimately connect. I still have a picture of myself sitting with Bill in the booth at the diner. This picture was probably taken at Christmas or Easter not so long after Bill's wife died. We are both smiling but Bill looks really frail and it won't be too long after that picture that Bill will stop eating blintzes (which he loved) and stop coming to the diner. You never know what an impact you have on people and how people you hardly know become your family. Yesterday, at the diner where I go sometimes for breakfast,I had my usual. the diner is really a bar but they have a great breakfast special that is really cheap. I watch the people drink beer up at the bar at 8:00 a.m. I eat my fabulous breakfast with potato pancakes and eggs. The waitress is always so nice and she's just this kind human who doesn't give me a hard time when I walk out while the juke box plays sad love songs. She's just like I was when I was a waitress way back when. Yesterday, I told her I was celebrating not having cancer. She bought my coffee. Life is good and life goes on.