gnomi | Encounters in the Deli

Last night, seeking meat to eat,

mabfan and I went out to our local kosher deli for dinner. Since it's one of the few kosher sit-down restaurants we have in Brookline, it's not uncommon for us to run into someone we know there. And last night, we ran into people before, during, and after dinner.

As we were being seated, we ran into one of the restaurant's employees who was coming off shift. He works as a line cook, a waiter, and a mashgiach, so I'm not sure which shift he was coming off of, but he was dressed much more casually than he usually is when we see him there. I'm always amused when we see him there, since I've known him since he was... (counts on fingers and toes) about 6 (though I can't believe that... he's 22 now and I first met him in 1990, so if he was born in 1984, then yeah. But it's hard to believe. He's the son of the BU Hillel rabbi).

Then, while we were eating our soup course,

vettecat's mother came in, as she was meeting some friends for dinner. It was lovely to see her; she commented that not only are we davening together (she sits in the row behind me in shul), we're now eating together.

Finally, as we were finishing up and paying our bill, I happened to look up and see a familiar-looking guy being seated with an unfamiliar-looking woman across the restaurant. An out-of-place familiar face, at that, since it was, as far as I could tell, Charlie, a friend of mine from college whom I hadn't seen since. I looked at

mabfan and said, "Is that Charlie?" He said, "You could go over and ask." I was a bit shy about doing so, so I was waiting until

mabfan was ready to leave, as well, figuring we'd stop by the table in question on our way out. But at that moment, maybe-Charlie looked up, saw me, and did a classic double take. He started gesticulating expansively for

mabfan and me to come over to his table. When we did, we determined that it was, in fact, Charlie (those of you whom I knew at BU and who were regulars at Hillel may remember him) and his wife, Susan. We had a brief catching-up conversation, but since they hadn't yet ordered, and the restaurant was somewhat crowded and the waitstaff was trying to pass back and forth through where

mabfan and I were standing, we ended up just giving them our e-mail addresses (handy-dandy personal business cards are a very useful thing in this sort of situation) and wishing them well and heading out.

I giggled half the way home.

mabfan and I remember Charlie fondly; I have many a Charlie-related story from college, and I've been wondering, on and off, what might've become of him. So I'm glad to have randomly run into him, and I hope he does keep in touch.