Strangers and Friends

I meet a lot of people everyday.  It is part of work.  During this time of the year there are a lot of people that come through Cedar City for the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  We are blessed to have as customers the founder of the festival and those that run it now.  We also enjoy having many of the actors come in and then of course we have lots of visitors that have been referred to us from locals who are fans.  I try to talk to as many as I can to find out where they are from and what shows they are here to see.  In doing so today I had a remarkable experience.

It was busy during lunch and somehow I managed to mess up the schedule so that I was down one of our kitchen staff.  We simply tightened up and covered it.  All turned out well but it meant that we all had to be moving.  This doesn't allow for a lot of mingling time with the customers and there was one table of three ladies that I really didn't get to spend a lot of time with.  Things slowed down and as they were leaving I struck up casual conversation with them, asked if they were from out of town and if they were here to see a show.  Yes they were here to see a show but one was local, another from Beaver, they were sisters, and their mom was from the San Francisco Bay Area.  I mentioned that I was born in the Bay Area and the conversation got interesting. 

The mother was from Oakland and I mentioned I was born in Castro Valley - Hayward actually but I always think Castro Valley because that is where the folks grew up.  The mother asked what our name was and when I mentioned Fontano they all said we know some Fontano's and the mother said, Al and Vi Fontano.  I responded that they were my grandparents.  This lady was in a sewing class with Grandma Vi and I think they may have been in the same ward at some point.  Anyway I told them the folks were in the store and so we turned around and walked to the back so they could meet. 

They had a fun conversation, I couldn't stay for it but learned afterwards that the mother, sorry, that just sounds rude, this kind 90 year old woman was wearing a ring that my great grandfather, Donovan Jay Allphin, made for her in his jeweler store.  That is pretty amazing.  All this because of a quick little conversation with three ladies that were in for the first time eating our food. 

It is a wonderful thing meeting strangers who turn out to be friends.  I am certainly grateful for the experience.  Certainly meeting people is one of the funnest things I get to do.  Yesterday I met a guy that taught me the secrets to pouring the perfect glass of diet coke.  I didn't expect a 15 minute dissertation on the matter but I learned a lot in the process.  I had another group of customers stop in and it turned out they were an alternative rock group out of Denver.  They were on their way back from a west coast tour and found us online and decided to stop.  They loved the place and we had a good conversation.  The Foot is the name of their band.  Nice guys.  Wonder which strangers and friends I will meet tomorrow.