Passing it on

[Shada]

June 1st, 2006.
I was at a local resturant having dinner with friends. A elderly couple came in and took a table near us. I overheard them telling their waitress that they were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! What an accomplishment! We all sat there and discussed all they had to have shared over the years, the lean times, the wars they had seen start and end, the enduring war now going on, all the changes mankind has made, wow, in the last 60 years, they have seen a lot, and here they were still together, and celebrating their 60th anniversary alone.
We wondered if they had children, and if so where were they..

When our waitress brought me my check, I asked her to put their dinner bill on mine. I paid for their dinner with a huge dopey grin on my face. Made me feel like I really helped them to celebrate such a wonderful occasion.

On my way out, I stopped at their table and told them congratulations on their anniversary.

My next trip into that resturant, the same waitress told me they were so surprised and happy that a total stranger had done that for them.
I never got their name, nor did they get mine.

The next year, on what would have been their 61st anniversary, I and my friends went back to the resturant, at the same time, in the hope they would once more be celebrating. Sadly they never came in. But my friends and I have a standing date, on that date, to always go in at the same time, and have our dinner to celebrate that couple.
Who knows? Maybe this June 1st, they will be there! Wouldn't that be wonderful?