Liver & Onions & Strangers

At the gym, I discovered I had packed two mismatched shoes and both belonging to the right foot.  No, not my first time to pack two different shoes in my gym bag, but at least then, I had a right and a left.  Today, it required a quick drive home to get a left and right matching pair.  Good thing, I had my accountability friend, Sally, expecting me to be there or I probably wouldn’t have gone back.  

While on the elliptical, dinner was on my mind.  The pork chops in my refrigerator weren’t sounding too appetizing, but Luby’s liver and onions sounded delicious!  I even had a bit of a left over on a Luby’s gift card!  Pun intended…

At home changing clothes, I looked in a mirror and thought…oh my!  My hair looked a nightmare.  I have been letting it go natural with the curl, but the length with my over bleached ends had to go.  I picked up the scissors that I keep in the bathroom drawer.  I picked up a section, lifted it up, twisted it together, and pondered how much to cut off.   Should I?  Thankfully, sanity returned and I put the scissors down.  

On the way to Luby’s, I detoured to the mall.  Penny’s had an opening and I let a professional cut my hair.  It’s now short again, but bleached ends gone makes me feel sooo much better.  

At Luby’s I stood in line waiting for my turn.  I ordered liver and onions.  An older lady was in line behind me ordering the same thing too.  They guy behind us, asked us about the liver and onions.  We both suggested he try it.   She took hers to go and I found a table.  

Now to some people, liver and onions would be punishment to eat, but to those who love it … nothing, but yummy!  I was enjoying mine with Heinz 57 and jalapeno cornbread, watching closed caption CNN, when a lady passed by my table and stopped.  “So, what’s that you’re eating?” she asked looking at my plate.  I told her liver and onions and she made ‘the face’ that people make when those three words are uttered.  I assured her it was good, but not to try it unless she grew up eating it.  I did tell her that it was the best at Luby’s because you didn’t have to smell it cooking, which I don’t enjoy either.  She assured me, smiling, that she most likely wouldn’t, but told me to enjoy my meal and have a blessed night.  I do love hearing that.

Liver and onions cooking can stink up a house!  My mom cooked them a lot when we were growing up.  I never knew they were supposed to be yucky and gross.  They were just a meal my family cooked.  My great-Grannie used to cook them with onions and apples.  I always thought they were appetizing and no amount of description of what a liver does or peer pressure will dissuade me.  Literally, my mouth waters when I think about Luby’s because that’s the only reason I dine there.

After I finished, I saw the man that ordered the L & O too.  I walked passed his table.  He was an old cutie; tall and lanky, wearing a blue baseball cap on top of his slightly shaggy gray hair.  He smiled and thanked me for suggesting it.  I let a small laugh out and nodded.  Another convert to Luby’s famous liver and onions.    I left smiling… and satisfied.  

I had a new hair cut, one of my favorite dishes for dinner, and had made small contacts with three strangers that didn’t mean a world of beans, but I enjoyed my night technically spent alone.  Isn’t it strange how tiny comments can lift a person up, put a smile on our lips, and make our steps lighter.  I believe they are small blessing from above; just small whispers of kisses of God’s love.  

I came home, stripped my sheets off the bed and washed them.  Now they are drying and I’m looking forward to crawling between cool, crisp sheets.  Small changes, but oh, so satisfactory.  

And so we rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:16  NIV