We're All Just People

We went to our favorite mediterranean restaurant here in Lexington a couple of weeks ago, my girls and me. It’s called Sahara. Their falafels are magnificent. They’re plump with a perfect crust and just right on the insdie. They are amazing. They serve this garlic sauce that is perfection. I love it. I’ve never had anything there that I don’t like.

It’s a little place but has more seating than you would think possible. The kitchen is open and you can watch the men grill the food. It sounds like a song when they call things back and forth to one another in their guttural language, whatever it is. I think certain things about men from the part of the world that they come from, but here in this restaurant I feel like it’s different. We're just people eating good food, smiling at each other over the grill and between bites.

We got there at 11 hoping to beat the lunch hour rush, but it didn't work.  There was still a line out the door. I am not lying about how good these falafels are, people. We were just standing there at the door, knowing that there was not enough room for us to go in but also feeling kind of stupid because we weren't inside. We pretended to be looking at the menu, and I guess that we kind of were, but it felt weird to not be in the door. Like I said, though, there was no room.

“Whoa!” exclaimed a man walking up. “Is this the place to be or what?”

We told him that it was and commented it was unusually busy this early in the day. He told us he was from far away, an hour, and he was hoping it would be good. I noticed he was dressed really well - pressed trousers, a bow tie, tweed newsboy hat, and nice leather shoes with no scuffs. I wondered if he was a lawyer. I don’t know why, but that’s what I wondered. He told us he traveled for work and I wanted to ask why but decided that was outside of the scope of acceptable questions when talking with a stranger. After a few minutes of friendly conversation we made our way inside.

It was still crowded though, and we had to stand close together. We all agreed that the tantalizing smells would make it hard to narrow our choices down. While the girls and I tried to figure out what we’d order our conservation with the stranger stopped, but I kept him in the back of my mind. I do that even with people I don't know, keep them in the back of my mind.

Sometimes I talk too much, and I know that. I’m a curious person and conversation comes easily for me. I like to find out about people and where they’re from and what they think about things. In our culture, though, it’s not always polite to ask the questions that I want to know the answers to. This guy, he piqued my curiosity, plus he was alone.

“Should I invite him to sit with us?” I asked Kiley and Laurel. We were at a table for four, so we had room for one more. These girls of mine are teenagers, and introverts to boot, so their eyes about fell out of their heads. I think one of them mumbled something about me being so weird, but I don’t try to clarify that stuff anymore.

It’s just that I know what it is to be lonely and I don’t want anyone to feel that way. I guess that’s the good that comes out of any suffering. If you’re a decent person you don’t want anyone to suffer, or at least not suffer alone.

I didn’t ask him over, though. Not because they talked me out of it, just because I lost the momentum. Next time, though, I’ll invite the stranger to sit and share a meal with us, though, no matter how weird my kids think it is. I think it’s important to invite people into our lives be it for 30 minutes or 30 years. Relationship, camaraderie with other humans, is what gets us through. I know for me it is.

Think about it: God sent his Son to be with us so that we would understand relationship with Him. God sacrificed everything so that we cold have relationship with Him -  so shouldn’t we do anything to have relationship with each other? Shake a hand, share a meal, connect to one another in real life.

After all, we're all just people.