Considering the forecast for tonight and Randa’s late afternoon appointments in Saint Joe, I decided–while on the way home from work yesterday–to surprise her with a suggestion that we eat out on Thursday night instead of Friday night. But then, when I got home, there she was standing at the stove fixing supper.

Some relations teeter on such dilemmas as this: finish cooking or go out to eat?

We waited until the cornbread finished cooking in the oven and then headed over to El Maguey’s in Saint Joseph. Somehow, Randa managed to mask any trace of frustration and indeed seemed genuinely enthusiastic about eating out at our favorite restaurant.

The manager, Eduardo, gave us a friendly greeting at the door and Ishmael gave us a friendly greeting at the table. The busboy had chips and salsa there before we finished sliding into our booth seats. As a formality, Ishmael asked us if we wanted our usual drink order and we reminded him that we’d like some pico gallo, too. Soon after those arrived, we also had our grilled chicken quesadillas.

After our prayer, we ate slowly, talked at length and at one point quietly amused ourselves discussing in very low voices whether or not the middle-aged men who sat down at the table across from us were twins or not. If a DNA test revealed they were not even brothers, I would have to recommend the lab be shut down; they just had too many distinctly similar features.

We also talked about the similar features among our many visits to El Maguey. We’ve been regular customers there for over ten years. The food is consistently excellent and there have been only two or three times over those years when the service has not been on par with the food. We like the people, we like the food and we like the atmosphere. We are welcomed when we arrive and treated well while we are there and none of it seems pretentious.

Might be a lesson in that for churches, companies and other families.

H. Arnett
3/7/14