A $60 Breakfast

"This morning as I watched this sailboat zigzag across Galveston Bay, working the steady winds and splashing through the choppy waves, I could only think about the similarities with life. The path may not be straight, the struggle may be tough, but to get to THAT place, we must keep a keen eye on the winds, adjust the sails, and believe the struggles are worth the trip knowing we are not alone in our endeavor, that someone sees our courage, and though that they learn to sail." - from my Facebook quote.

After I left the banks of the bay this morning I decided to head home;  ribs to marinade and other things to do.  I thought about picking up something quick at McDonald's for a second, changed my mind in less than that as I often do, then decided to stop out again somewhere else.  Then I changed my mind again and headed home.

Changed again, and like a magnet, I was pulled toward the Pelican Cafe.  A very small restaurant in a strip mall on NASA 1 in Seabrook, I stopped going there a couple of years ago due to poor service and a reducing their toast portion from two to one.  Yeah, one piece.  

Anyway, I decided to stop in.  After one of those TV restaurant redo shows, I was pretty impressed with the changes on the inside.   There were only two customers in there, one guy ordering breakfast "to go"  at the counter and another gentleman I recognized as a regular customer years ago, except this time without his wife.  Considering his age, I was only hoping she hadn't passed away, I had never seen him there without her a few years ago.

As the guy at the counter was ordering, I heard he and the waitress both talk about going to school.  Small talk, but I picked up he was going to school to be an engineer and she was going to school to be a nurse.  As I get older it gets tough for me to figure out the age of someone, but my guess was she was in her late twenties and if I were to bet, she probably had a child or two.

Another couple came in, she made her way around to take my order, took theirs, and I started to think about the relationship of a waitress and a nurse.  I thought if this young lady is going to be a nurse, what I presumed was driving her, at least hoped, was the inner need to care for others, and hope it just wasn't for the money.  As I watched and listened, her attitude and behavior was extremely good towards the few customers she served and for that brief moment in there I felt her personality was well suited to be a nurse.  She had those loving and caring traits.

I finished my breakfast, asked for my check.  She promptly returned with it and I have her a twenty to pay for it.   She immediately brought back my change; eight dollars and some coins.  I picked up the coins and pocketed them and was planning of leaving a three dollar tip.  As I put the three dollars down and started to pocket the five, I had this feeling come over just to leave her a five.  She was friendly, the service was good, and she was working hard to get through nursing school.  The five sat there for a few seconds as I was finishing up a drink and then it came over me to leave her a fifty.  I had a few extra dollars in my wallet from a trip I made to Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago.  It wasn't that there wasn't something I couldn't use it for, but I thought that fifty may be more meaningful to her.

As she walked by refilling coffee's, I asked her if she had a pen.  She looked at me funny, like she thought something may have been wrong with the food or the service, because by then I had pulled all the change I got back from her off the 'tip tray' and if she was observant she'd would have been thinking this guy is going to stiff me. As she walked away I wrote on a napkin, "Good Luck in Your Nursing Program - Live Your Dream", put down the fifty and partially covered it with the napkin and walked out. Don't know what her reaction was, but only hope it was needed, it hit her heart, and she pays it forward some day.

Many times in my life I get inspired to do something like this and I suspect most of us do.  Sometimes it's a simple thing; helping someone with a bag at the airport, a door at a store,  or helping someone who is broken down on the side of the road.  I would say that I probably react to less than 10% of these 'divine inspirations' I get and as I get older and think about it more. I feel that these inspirations come over us for a reason and they're just random thoughts that come into our minds, they are 'divine messages' that are heard through our souls and by not reacting to them we don't allow our spirit, the soul of who and what we are, to be fulfilled.

As I move forward with my life I will be making more of an effort to act upon those inspirations, and I challenge you to do so as well.  We are all connected in more ways than we can see ore measure, our choices make it a positive or negative connection.

Stay true to your heart - live your dreams!