Lessons from Dining Part 2

Since we were trapped in rainy Washington for ALL of our Spring Break I decided to protest cooking dinner.

If we had gone on vacation I wouldn't have been cooking, so I wasn't going to cook here.

We saved all that money by not going on vacation, so we can afford to eat out every night for a week. Right?

You can probably tell from my previous post that I was struck by the encounter with Mr. Evans at the restaurant the other night.  I'm not one to swoon over famous people, especially football famous people, but there was just something about the encounter that made me curious enough to dig deeper in to the man's story and something about that woman that I couldn't shake.

One of the videos I watched of an old interview with Mr. Evans mentioned that he was the team captain of every team he was ever on.  There is obviously something infectious about him that made him a leader in his football career and later in his time leading marriage conferences.  Something about him is magnetic.

After pouring over a few articles and watching some clips of interviews,  I stopped to ask myself  how did we get from Eli offering up a seat to taking pictures to  me digging into the history of a stranger?

It was the woman.

She said "and I'm not even his wife" after she had given us a quick synopsis of his accomplishments.

I don't know who she was.  

She was clear that she wasn't his wife and although she said she was his PR person, based on the lack of media attention in the last 5 years I don't think he actually has any use for a PR person.  

I think she was just a friend who was incredibly proud of him and his accomplishments.  She wanted to share it with strangers who just happen to offer up a seat to him.

It was her enthusiasm to share his story, it was her announcement to Eli that he was shaking the hand of a real legend that sent us down that road of discovery.

I want a friend like that.

I want to BE a friend like that.

What if we all travelled with our own personal cheerleaders announcing to the world that they just had the honor of meeting us?

Who am I a cheerleader for?  My family?  My friends?  My God?

As she walked out of the restaurant I stopped her and thanked her for taking the time to share Mr. Evans' story with us.  She smiled and said "I'm sure you made his day."  But really I'm not sure who was happier about the entire encounter...the man or the cheerleader.  I think SHE is the one who had the most joy in the situation. Her joy came, not from drawing attention to any of her own accomplishments, but from sharing about his.