May 5,
2014
My instead: I went out for
a Cinco de Mayo lunch with my friend Norman.
It was my day to work at
Norman’s house and I got there around 12:30. Norman asked me if I wanted to go
out for a sandwich, but I said I had already eaten lunch. He looked so
disappointed. I told him I would really enjoy doing that and asked if we could
go after I was done working. That worked for him!
I finished around 2:45
so we headed to the little restaurant he always tells me about in Swansea.
There was a sparse crowd when we arrived. We were greeted by a nice young man who
led us to our booth. We placed our order and got our soup and salad quickly.
The main course took a little while longer. But that was okay because then we
had time to talk. Norman shared a lot about his youth when he was in the
service. He and his wife both got married at the age of 20, but, unfortunately,
he had to be gone a lot. He didn’t even get to see his son Roger until he was
one-year-old. He was a good guy who, to this day, has never been drunk. He was
never unfaithful to his wife…”never even thought about it”!
As I was listening to Norman,
I felt that I was back in the 1940s. I wondered how different things were back
then compared to now…how simple. They were especially simple for Norman because
he did not add complications to his life like the rest of us often do. There
was no drama, no heartache. He had 63 years with his wife and said that he
would marry the same girl if he had to do it all over again. What a tribute to
his wife!
I’m glad I got to spend
this special time with Norman. I got a glimpse of that young man again in the
eyes of this 93-year-old gentleman.
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