I could never be a server at a restaurant. I don’t have the temperament for it, what I do have is tremendous respect for those who can do the job. Demanding customers, workload, hot kitchens, mercurial chefs, there is an endless list of challenges to be endured while I enjoy my rum punch and scallops. And maybe a vegetable. Definitely a starch.
On a recent trip to Maine, I was struck by the sincere affability and conversations I had with the staff at multiple eateries. I felt as though I was leaving each establishment with a new friend. Granted, busy season had not yet begun, yet something tells me that in all cases it would not have made a difference if it was August. Across the board, these women were kind, funny, knowledgeable about the food and the area, and as interested in the suburbs of Philadelphia from which we hail as we were about our home for the week. I wanted to ask them all for their phone numbers so that we could become text buddies. I refrained. Instead, I departed with a renewed sense of appreciation for those in the industry as well as a deeper admiration for the gift that is making someone feel seen while they pour you a cup of coffee or tell you about today’s specials.
I am sure they have forgotten the couple from Pennsylvania wearing Seahawks gear but I will remember them for awhile. Although I do not have photos of them, creepy much?, they are there amongst my wonderful memories of seven days spent in the Pine Tree State. I have always assumed that surviving endless hours on your feet and hangry patrons was the sign of a good server and it is. However, the handful of ladies whose tables I was lucky enough to be seated at showed me what it Is to be a genuine person. It will take some time before I forget the taste of fresh lobster. It will be even longer for me to lose these interactions. One of the greatest things about travel is meeting people from all over the world. A ten-minute exchange with a fellow explorer or an hour spent with a server can feel like much longer, a bond seeming to form much faster than in real life. I suppose it is similar to the romances of actors on a film set, a la Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, without the alleged abuse, a large quantity of children who do not have a relationship with their father and want to remove his surname from their own.
We have only been home a few days and I miss everything: the delicious seafood, the rental home with the amazing view of a cove in Boothbay Harbor, the water EVERYWHERE, the people. Always the people, wherever we go, serving up a whole lot more than breakfast, lunch and dinner.
#sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #legallyblindtraveler #travel #ivebeenserved
