about unselfish giving in an unorthodox way. I met him when I moved to NC. I walked up to his restaurant as he was awkwardly sliding down the roof onto a ladder. There were no cars in the parking lot and it was midday. I wait at the bottom of the roof for him, thinking that he must be coming down to help me. "Can I help you?" he ask. "I was just coming to get an application. " I answer. "Well, I don't have them out here, go in and ask Kathy." he says as he walks off, grumbling at my obvious stupidity that he would have an application outside. I fill out the application, he hires me and thus started a friendship that has lasted for 25 years.
Fair, honest, funny the year round. Then comes November. Around Thanksgiving, he begins to turn green. Every day following Thanksgiving started with ~You better don't do a thing for me this Christmas or I'll....~ The threats changed in intensity the closer we got to the Christmas party. We all loved him dearly, but he wouldn't let us do a single thing for him. Ever!
The first couple of years for Christmas, he cooked a nice dinner for us at the restaurant. We brought our spouses and enjoyed time with co-workers. He would bring out the food, speak to everyone, wish them a Merry Christmas and then disappear into the kitchen, refusing help with dishes. If too many people came back to the kitchen to offer, he would holler "This is the last time I am throwing this damn Christmas party!" and we would all scurry back into the dining area.
The next Christmas, we all chipped in to purchase a nice big fruit basket. We delivered it to his home. Bad move. When we arrived at the Christmas party, he was banging things around loudly in the kitchen. We could hear him chopping ferociously on his butcher block. He served our wonderful meal and then he came out with our gifts. He passed out the Budweiser collectible porcelain steins.Smug satisfaction curled his lips into the grinch smile as we stuck our hands in to retrieve the Christmas bonus envelopes. Our hands jerked out of the steins, surprised to find the wet chopped fruit that had been delivered to his home. He obviously ran out of fruit to fill them all and chopped potatoes to add volume.
The restaurant grew in popularity and became the Mecca for locals 3 counties wide. The Christmas party's outgrew the dining area. He would reserve dining rooms at nice restaurants around town. As the meal commenced you could see his joy tend to turn to unrest. He didn't want a bunch of employees to start thanking him. After he knew everyone had eaten and consumed a sufficient amount of beverage, he would pay the bill and exit.
The Christmas gatherings grew fewer,but the group of people who have been with him for years have gathered every December since at a restaurant to celebrate our friendship. Each year as we pull in and give hugs with arms full of goody baskets, he threatens "There better not be a thing in there for me" We all promise there isn't. One year my friend gets back to the office and puts some of the candy we shared in a gift bag on his desk. She heard him minutes later "Who gave me this?" he yells.
I watch him. He takes care of the people around him. They are loyal to him. He always has a less fortunate person in his life. He seeks and finds people in need and does for them. Feeds them, takes them to appointments, befriends them. We have long since given up on giving him a card or gift for any occasion. One year, I popped in at the restaurant on a day that no one was supposed to be at work. There was a truck filled with bicycles at the back door. He saw my look of surprise but gave me the look of silence or else. Another year, a freezer full of turkeys, Meals on Wheels, Helping people with learning disabilities....These are just the few that I know by chance. The years rolled by as I watched him affect the lives of those around him humbly. I saw right through the French Grinch's green hairy fur. Beneath all the fur was a slobbery, wet, love dripping heart.
He taught me the true meaning of these verses. In Matthew 6:1-4 ( NIV version ) "Be careful not to do your "acts of righteousness" before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, but to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
I was finally able to give him a gift he would accept. But, I can't tell now...Can I?????
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