Birthday Lunch

Today I went to lunch
at the Cheesecake Factory
with a group of friends
to celebrate my birthday
and the birthday
of one of the other friends.



I am not a huge fan
of the Cheesecake Factory
mostly because I am not a huge fan
of fancy or expensive food.

I like to get my bang
for my buck.

The Cheesecake Factory Menu iritates me.

First of all,
it is way too big.

In my opinion, a menu
should not have page numbers.

What a menu should have
is an item listed
with the price
of that item next to it.

In the Cheesecake Factory Menu
they list a category of food
with a range of prices
and then the discription of each item below.

I know they do not list prices
in high class establishments.

However,
I am not a high class person.

I want to know exactly
how much my lunch is going to cost.

(I told my son that tidbit and he told me
he never looks at the price of a menu item
when he orders it.
Hmm, that explains a lot.)

I have always thought the definition
of a rich person was
"Someone who doesn't look at the price tag
before they try on the dress."

I am definitely not,
and never will be,
a rich person.

I will always look.

However, I digress.

I don't love the Cheesecake Factory,
but I loved being there
and eating lunch,
with my friends,
that I do love.

It was wonderful.

It was fun.

It was delicious.

It was entertaining.

It was perfect.

A lot of my friends
are facing challenges
in their lives at the moment
and it meant a lot to me
that they were willing to
spend some of their precious
and limited time
in my company
to celebrate my birthday
with me.

They are the best!

To prove how wonderful they are
they even bought me
TWO rolls
of the very pricey
Press 'n Seal wrap
that I adore.

They must be rich!

They also gave me some money
to buy a specific item
that I am looking for
that I will recognize
when I see it.
As soon as I find it
I will tell them
what they gave me
for my birthday.

One of my friends
was very embarassed
to be giving me cash.
It seemed somewhat
"Grandma-ish" to her.

Apparently she was so embarassed
that she hid my "gift"
- the money -
in her purse
without knowing it.

All my friends were
frantically searching
the waiting area of
the Cheesecake Factory
looking for my "present".
It was quite entertaining.

Earlier I said
that I wasn't rich
and that I never would be
and perhaps
by the above definition
that is true.

However,
Today I think
I have changed
my definition of RICH.

I think the Rich person
is the one who has friends
in their life
that they know love them
and will be there for them
no matter what.

And by that definition
I am the RICHEST person
in the world!

And it doesn't matter
where you are.
If you are with those kind of friends
it's the perfect place.

Thanks, dear birthday buddy, for choosing
where we ate this year
so I didn't have to.