He came in asking if I had “a minute to have a piece of pie”
with him.
I was on the clock, but the restaurant was empty except for he,
me and one other worker. I had time. My heart swelled with pleasure at being
thought of, sought out, and offered a gift that was clearly more than pie. It was
a gift of time.
“I believe I do!” I said while internally feeling an almost
disturbing sense of giddiness. Where did that come from?
We settled at a table with coffee and pie and enjoyed some
catch-up chatting time as we ate bites of apple and coconut crème.
“What are you doing this far out, Grandpa?”
“Getting feed and then I saw a little Mercedes parked out
there,” he motioned to the parking lot outside, “and thought I’d see if the
owner was hungry for pie.”
Maybe I wasn’t hungry for pie exactly… my hunger went much deeper
than my stomach. That strange giddiness that wasn't wearing off as fast as I would have liked was proof enough of that. It was a hunger and a need to know someone cared and that I was
loved…it seemed like a weakness, but whether it was a weakness or not, I was painfully aware of its existence. But somehow with each bite of pie, with each genuine question
of interest, and with each little encouragement,
my deeper hunger was being satisfied.
Too soon, other customers came in and needed my attention. Grandpa
said, “I don’t want to keep you from your work. I’ll let you get back to it.
Thanks for eating pie with me.” He stood to pay.
“$6.82” I said after I plugged the purchase into the
register. He paid and pressed another bill into my hand.
“Get some gas in that car.” He said with a wink.
"Thanks for coming in, Grandpa." I said as I hugged him goodbye.
How did he know? Or maybe it is just obvious that I’m one of
the many going-on-broke college students out there. But more than that, I know
he wanted to bless me. And he did. He blessed me far beyond the blessing of pie
and gas money, he blessed me with his time, presence and his love.
For a few minutes I was not the
busy, success-minded, restless and driven university student. Instead, Grandpa let me
be the little granddaughter who got to soak up her grandpa’s adoration for
her. He managed to touch that hunger within me that was deeper than my stomach. And I found peace in a few moments with him and a piece of
pie.
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