Image by Beverly Buckley from Pixabay
How do you know you have a friend in the world?
When you have to tell her the worst secret, not the best.
How do you know she's your best friend on Earth?
When God gives her the wisdom to be that person.
It had begun from the beginning with Captain Robert Ludlow and Thalia Green … all his friends in their mid-forties were angling for women in their 20s, but he had spotted a peer while on a brief excursion off-base who had gotten his attention … a beautiful woman aging graciously in her late thirties or early forties … there was something about her spirit … she was sitting in the patio of the restaurant, just glowing in a dapple of summer sunshine, looking cool and green and fresh in the heat.
She actually was very upset after tasting her food, but the intellect and wisdom of the woman was shown in how she responded. She asked for the waiter and said, “This is such a remarkable occurrence – I need to speak to your manager or even the restaurant's owner – there are so many good things I need to say!”
The owner came, and sat down, and Captain Ludlow strained his hearing … she told the owner so many wonderful things about the décor and ambience and how it was such a welcoming place for both civilians and veterans – oh, she had noticed the Army captain there, sharp in his uniform! – and about the service, the wait staff, and all the rest.
But then... .
“There's just one problem, sir. You're serving dull old celery. I see it and I taste it, and I'm a high-level consulting nurse who knows: old celery is carcinogenic and tends to encourage cancer in its eaters.”
The owner nearly hit the floor, and then picked himself up as she continued.
“Now, there's so much good about your establishment that I know this can't be how you regularly operate. It just can't. You just wouldn't be the type of man who would put up such a good front and intentionally serve cancer-causing garbage to save money. I brought it to your attention because I think you have a five-star restaurant in the making, and I wouldn't want someone with my level of knowledge and contacts but without my appreciation for your restaurant to jack you up.”
The man's pride returned.
“Thank you, ma'am – I'll get to the bottom of this.”
“Now, I'm not paying for this meal – one bite of this salad was enough – but I'll come back in a week, and I just know you'll have everything under control.”
“Ma'am, I will!”
Captain Ludlow did what he had to do to be at the restaurant for lunch that next week. Sure enough: Ms. Green returned, ordered the same dish, smiled, asked for the owner, complimented him, said the celery was delicious, ate everything, paid, left a big tip, said she would be back the next day. The entire staff rejoiced.
On Ms. Green's next visit, she found herself shown to a reserved table in the nicest section of the restaurant. The owner came out and thanked her and told her what had really been going on. It was not a pretty story, but “You gave me the courage to do what I had to do, and take the risk I had to take. We will be a five-star restaurant, ma'am – my family and I are not going to let you down!”
That woman had taken a problem and made a five-star restaurant and a encouraged man and family out of it.
Captain Ludlow went back to base prepared to resign his commission if necessary – he was going to be at that restaurant and have time to meet Ms. Green, and he was going to court her and win her if possible.
He, at 44 years old, had found his best friend. He knew from how she had handled the celery.