Well, today was my Mother's eighty-fourth birthday. Last night, after she went to bed, I put eighty-five dollars and a "Happy Birthday!" note at her place at the dining room table (where we eat all of our meals), so that she would see them first thing this morning. I used to give her gift certificates to a near-by department store, but it went out of business; besides, she would save the gift certificates, sometimes for months, before using them, so I switched over to cash. I always give her one dollar more that her age, thereby giving her "one to grow on."
Before I left for work, I put the "special" plate at her place. It is a blue plate with the legend, "Today is your day. Celebrate!" painted in white around the rim. She told me that she ate her lunch on it.
After work I took her to her favorite place to eat out, a local cafeteria. As we were going through the serving line, she happened to mention to a couple of the servers that today was her birthday. One of the servers reached into her shirt pocket, whipped out two one dollar bills, and gave them to my Mother. Not to be outdone, the other server reached into her shirt pocket, whipped out a five dollar bill, and gave it to my Mother. Those workers probably don't earn a very high wage, and, yet, they gave freely of their money. It touched my so much that I asked for their names and birthdays, so that I could return the favors. The first server's name is Tameka. Her birthday is on June the fourteenth. The second server's name is Pamela, and her birthday is July the twenty-fifth.
After I finished my meal, I went up to the cashier to get some change for a twenty dollar bill, so that I could leave the waitress, who carried my Mother's tray to our table, a tip. While I was getting my change, the cafeteria manager told the cashier that he was taking care of our bill! Wow!
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