Pizza Blessings

I analyzed the Pizza Hut parking lot. Yep. Definitely far enough to the door to give Dad a run for his money. I braced myself and jogged up to him - shoulder on the ready. And, two, three, Huh! I thought, intending to knock him off balance. I ricocheted, as usual, and he held the door of the restaurant open for with an aloof grin.

A young waiter seemed intimidated by our presence in his jurisdiction.

"How many?" He asked nervously.

"Six," Mom replied with confidence, glancing at the back table where we preferred to eat. The waiter murmured something and pointed somewhere and, roughly interpreting his directions, we wound our way to the selected table.

"Oh! Those people in the other corner," Christa said suddenly, "That was the Milbraths, right?" I looked nonchalantly around the room. "Mmhmm. Yeah, that's the coach and his daughters," I agreed. Her eyes lit up.

"You won't believe what happened during the game today, Gianna! We were playing them, and two of our four goals were scored by their players! I did feel kinda bad for them, since they lost, but the seeing the ball bounce of the defender's hiny-hoo-hoo into the goal was slightly hilarious." Josiah and Kiara, still in red soccer jerseys, cracked up at the memory.

I nearly laughed aloud and glanced over at the Milbraths again. They waved cheerfully and I smiled.

While we waited for our pizza, my three younger siblings exhausted their fresh repertoire of soccer stories on my hungry ears. Finally we sat in silence. Dad and Josiah were tired. Christa and Kiara finally out of words. Mom watching us with amusement.

A minute passed.

"Pepper anyone?" I never have been very skilled at normal conversation starters, but it worked. We talked lightly about anything until I noticed Mom beginning to clear Parmesan and salt shakers from the middle of the table. She motioned behind me, where the waiter had crept timidly up carrying our pizzas. I caught myself wondering how long he'd stood there, afraid to say anything.

"Thank you," Mom smiled.

"Yes. And is that everything?" He almost whispered at my right. We nodded and waited until he betook his uncomfortable presence away to reach for the pizza.

Supper passed in the way most pizza suppers do. For the first few minutes nobody talked to or looked at anybody else. We all savored the first few bites and guarded the pizza pan with jealous eyes. After taking the sharpest blades off our hunger we assumed a more civil demeanor, only glancing at someone with cold displeasure when they took the largest piece. Finally, when we'd achieved stuffed-hood about equal to that of the stuffed crust we'd stuffed down, we carried on a more cheerful conversation with each other.

Sudden silence stifled us again as the waiter appeared for the last time. By now we were getting used to stopping and starting conversation in an instant.

"Is there anything else you need?" still timidly and civilly. We all looked at each other - asking and answering questions with gazes.

"Nope! Thank you!"

"Ok, and you bill is paid?" We all heard the question in his voice.

"Ah, no," Dad shook his head.

"Yes, you bill is paid. The lady in the other corner took care of it." The waiter had begun to sound as if he actually believed himself.

"Oh..."

I believe the waiter left us in our stunned silence.

Then we all began talking at once. "The Milbraths? Really? But we just totally took them out in soccer!" "They are such sweet people!" "That's so amazing! Nobody's ever done that for us before!" "I didn't know they made Christians like that anymore," Dad marveled above us all.

I added my exclamation to the chorus and then fell silent, amazed.

That was a week ago and I still can't describe it with any words except one: Beautiful. That kind of love and kindness is pure and selfless. I am so grateful for their perfect example and I can only pray blessings back into their life.