Just Right

I’m grateful for a lot of things, but more than anything, I’m grateful for my dreams. This is one of those dreams.

If I’m lucky, I want to be the old couple in the diner. That’s what I want more than anything. Even if I’m hugely successful and I have all the money in the world. Even though I could get far better cuisine elsewhere, I would much rather be with my husband of many years in a diner. I want to be the feisty old woman with pure white hair, sitting with my husband, with his full head of salt and pepper hair and thick Tom Selleck mustache; looking amazingly relaxed. Although, I have no clue how? With me always distressing him with some kind of ludicrousness, but he never seems to mind really, he finds an odd delight in my constant flow of ideas and tomfoolery. (He said it was my naughty eyes that made him fall in love with me.) But he has his things too, and I don’t seem to mind the fact that he falls asleep with a book every night, or always tells me the same story 20 times, but my memory isn’t that great anyway. I don’t mind always having to turn out the lights before bed. I mean he always gets the mail, so I guess it’s a fair trade in the end.

But every Wednesday we love to come to the Lyric Diner on 22nd and 3rd Avenue. I have the Egg Salad Sandwich and matzo ball soup. He has the Steak with a baked potato and mixed veggies. I cut his meat for him, and he eats half of my soup. He never orders his own, I think he likes when I get mad at him. He still likes to push the old buttons. Such a Jerk!! But he’s my Jerk.

We just sit there sometimes at the table and don’t say a word. We don’t really have to at this point. Sometimes we comment on the food, whether it’s bad or good…talk about how the douche bag kids finally called, but then talk about how proud we are of Alexander, Dylan, and Eliza. We smile as we think about all of the crazy times we went through with them, and how we’re just happy we made it to this diner. We’ll just sit there and eat our dinner, and then my husband will reach across the table, and he’ll grab my hand…and I’ll look and him and say “What darling?” He’ll just smile and say “Oh...nothing.” I’ll know that’s him just saying that he loves me. I’ll just smile back and drink my coffee. It will be lovely to know that everything is just right.

Someday, I’ll be that elderly couple in a diner, and it will be just right.

I’m grateful that I have dreams like this one, but I’m also grateful that dreams come true.

[The truth is, Everything is pretty good right now! I'm a very lucky person. I do have a lot of love. Maybe not romantic love, but a lot of love! I know one day, when the time is right, I'll find my old man, and it will be just right.]