...fish fry Friday...

Not being Catholic, I've never experienced a lenten fish fry. Excited to expose ourselves to something new, we glanced through a website listing area fish fries and agreed on Holy Infant Catholic Church as it was closest to our neighborhood.

We arrived at 4:45pm, a fairly early time with less people (or so we thought) and moved into the line. It was much busier than we expected, though a man also waiting in line said that coming at 6pm would have been much worse. As I've been reverting back into my fearful self, the one that doesn't feel confident in anything, I just wanted to choose their take out option, and eat dinner in front of the TV. But I knew that wouldn't make for a great blog post, so, before I could change my mind, I determined we should stay.

We got our dinners (salmon, cod, grouper with the options of fried or baked and so many sides – definitely worth the cost) and then the most gruesome part of any cafeteria experience began. You all know what I'm talking about: the struggle to find a place to sit. It was middle school all over again.

Always thinking ahead, I was scoping out the tables as we stood in line. I chose two that I thought were viable and, once we had our dinners, I led Andy through the maze and to the first table.

Table 1. “Sorry, these seats are taken.”

Table 2. “These seats are taken. Sorry.”

My spirit was so dampened by the time we got to Table 3, that, had they turned us away, I would have marched straight up to the line and asked for two to-go boxes. Thankfully, there was room at their table.

They didn't speak much, and almost as soon as we sat down, they got up to leave, and Andy and I were left to sit quietly alone, when a young man with a bright smile approached us and asked if the seats at our table were taken. We were so happy for the acknowledgement, we invited him to all the seats. As it turned out, we had to add one more chair to fit in his whole crew.

This young man and his girlfriend were meeting each others parents (and a set of grandparents) for the first time. Though we were such a mixed bag of individuals, we were still able to find common ground and swap stories. Andy is so good at chatting. While I prefer to enjoy listening to a conversation, Andy jumps right in and participates. There are few lulls in any discussion when he is around.

They were such friendly and delightful people! We tarried there in the cafeteria longer than we intended so that we could chat with them a bit longer.

My favorite part of the conversation? The young man's grandparents had been married for 50 years and Andy asked them their secret. The elderly man said, “Never forget – love is not a feeling. Love is a decision that you make every day.”

I think that can apply to any relationship. Go choose love today.