An Eventful Evening

The day had been OK with work and other routine stuff. A colleague and I decided to head out for an early dinner. We started off thinking that we would go to the Chili's which was a route she knew. Midway, I asked her if we could go to the Cheesecake factory and she agreed. It wasn't too far from where we were.

We decided to take the freeway and took North instead of heading South. It took us a while to figure out that we were driving in the wrong direction. Well, we stopped at a gas station and took directions. It again seemed simple, just that there was a detour to take the next exit. We again ended up going round and round and finally got back on the freeway. After a few loops of no success finding the correct exit, we finally gave up and decided to head back to Chilis.

We sat there enjoying the food and the conversation, laughing. We discussed life, men, gay/lesbian community, God, countries, cultures, careers, and any other topic that popped up. And as we got ready to pay, the waitress came by to say that our food was all paid for. We were surprised and wondered if it was another colleague who we had "not" invited. There was a sudden "slight" guilt trip we went on but quickly checked with the waitress if it was him. The waitress went back checked and returned to say "No, it was a gentleman who was sitting there", pointing to the seating area diagonally opposite to us.  She continued, "He was pretty silent. He paid and left. He wanted to remain anonymous." What we got to know what that his name was Michael. We wondered who this person was and how we had been too busy with our conversations that we hadn't even noticed him.  We wondered why he would do something so nice - was it a Pay It Forward message or was it something else? We will never know.

We stepped out of the restaurant all amused and it was time for me to Thank Michael. I said a short prayer to Thank Michael for his gesture. Though I would want to meet him and thank him in person someday.

What I did realize through the day was that when I start having fun and stop putting conditions on things that happen to or around me, that is when life happens. It is God's message to me to say "Be happy, be yourself and life will happen."