I've had a sense for a while that the North Pole Restaurant was one of those community gathering type of places but this morning...for me this a.m. it became community. I now know heather and bob.


God blesses Bob. In fact he kind of reminds me of Clarence the angel on It's a Wonderful Life.

I don't know his last name. He was a stranger who sat at the counter with me at the North Pole restaurant this morning as we ate breakfast. You could tell he was a regular as all the wait staff said hello to Bob and knew how he liked his coffee. (Kind of like Norm on Cheers) I'd guess his age to be close to 70 (kind of like my dad...)

His opening line to me was - has anyone told you this morning that you look beautiful? Which considering my hair dryer broke this a.m. and I didn't curl my hair was kind of nice. We struck up a conversation. Apparently he comes to the diner one or two times a day and just sits and has a conversation with people. He comes from the Iron Range, was an accountant for an explosives company. He only has two remaining siblings left out of eight brothers and sisters. His mom died when he was quite young and he had a terrible childhood. He's strugged with depression his entire life but didn't let that stop him from loving God and trying to make his life as close to My Three Sons and Leave It to Beaver as possible. He lives in Cottage Grove, has one son and two grandsons.

He found out about my life too...where I worked, Illinois, family, siblings etc.

Near the end of breakfast he says this: I like coming here to be among people. I strike up conversations and find out that there are a lot of lonely people in this world. I never said my life was easy and I could be a really bitter person but I won't let that stop me from sharing joy.

To which I responded with something probably kind of dorkey like - unhunh....

And he says - Sometimes all you have to do is have a conversation and the world isn't all that lonely anymore. He then offered to buy my breakfast. I sensed that he really wanted to so I awkwardly let him pay for my eggs.