Sue

Last night, one of my tables was a friendly, gorgeous couple.  They were easy to wait on, meaning they were nice, polite and low maintenance.  About an hour into their dinner, I go up to check on them, and the woman says something like, "You had a booth at the Torrance farmer's market."

"Yes," I say, "raising money for breast cancer."  I'm not super surprised that she would remember me...the Wilson Park Farmer's Market is very popular, and I DO have a shaved head, not to mention the fact that I am wearing pink ribbon earrings, a ribbon necklace and a pink ribbon badge reel :)

But then she proceeds to tell her husband how she cried at my booth.  "Oh my God," I say, "you bought the wish bracelet...you had just made your lumpectomy appointment!"  We both had the chills.  

I can remember that whole encounter back in August vividly. As she was looking at all of the pink ribbon goodies on my table, she looked at an item I had called a "wish bracelet"--a simple rope bracelet with a pink ribbon charm on it.  The idea is that you make a wish when you put the bracelet on and when the bracelet eventually falls off,  your wish comes true.  As I was telling her this, she confessed that she had just made her lumpectomy appointment, and she began to cry.  Then of course I began to cry.  Here she was, alone, walking around at the farmer's market minding her own business, DEFINITELY not expecting to see my big pink booth, and then she's sharing her story with me.   So I put the bracelet on her and told her that I wished for her well being, and we hugged.  I blogged about her and the other women I had met that day.  And now here she was.

It's hard to explain how the odds were against her being in my station.  After 13 years at Kincaid's, there are still people who eat there regularly who I have never waited on.  There are a lot of tables.  A lot of servers.  We're in a different station every night.  But there she was.

I knew by looking at her that all had gone well since last we saw one another.  Sue is beautiful, with an easy smile and delicate crows feet that are the proof that she uses that smile often.   I was so grateful that fate had brought us back together--seeing Sue was just what I needed after Marie's diagnosis.  Seeing her also reinforced my resolve to keep fighting and keep talking about breast cancer.  Thank you, Sue!!

Deciding that we had something to celebrate, I brought out a dessert with a candle for Sue.  I wanted to celebrate her survivorship, our meeting, BEING ALIVE.  Then she told me it was her and Bill's wedding anniversary!  Well, add that to the list of things we are thankful for!  It was awesome.

Not able to contain myself, I told Reggie (my GM) the story.  He then proceeded to go to the table and chat them up, and then he took care of their dinner bill!  That Reggie, he is GOOD PEOPLE.

I am so blessed in my life.  My kids helped me see that first.  Then my husband.  Then breast cancer.  We're all in it together, and that's the only thing that makes it bearable sometimes.