P.F. Chang’s and...a foot?

Took my wife out to eat for lunch at P.F. Chang’s. My oldest son gave us a gift card for Christmas - he surprised us and it was very thoughtful - you see the tear dripping down my cheek right now - sorry I got all emotional there. Back to the meal. It was delicious and we enjoyed the atmosphere (crowded, busy, lots of hustle and bustle and our table was right by the door, so I jest a little about the atmosphere). Really, it was good for us to get away and have some time together and we planned to go to a bookstore, Starbuck’s and to an antique store afterwards, just to be together.

We ate, and filled ourselves with lo mien, chicken cashew, egg rolls and, most importantly, chicken lettuce wraps - they are awesome. In fact, I really liked everything I ate. It was a really good meal. At the end, our waiter boxed up left overs and gave us the bill. We were pleasantly surprised at the price (forgot the lunch menu was cheaper) and began to unwrap our fortune cookies. 

I usually just get a kick out of the messages in the fortune cookies, and I actually like the taste of the cookies - a shocker, I know. Often, the fortune cookies include your lucky numbers and a word in chinese that you can learn how to say. Of course, you have to be able to read and speak chinese to be able to learn to say the word, so I never fully understood why these were on the little paper slips. 

My wife opened hers and it said “plenty” for her chinese word. Immediately, I thought about the meal and how full we were, and then how blessed we were as a family, and about how our lives have just “plenty” in them. It was a good word for us and I liked it.

I was kind of excited to open mine, thinking it might say “genius” or “greatness” or “success” or some other fantastic word describing me or my life or my family. The suspense was killing me, so I broke my cookie and grabbed the paper. It said “Foot!” are you kidding me? Foot - what does that describe about me? Was it a premonition that my toe surgery from two weeks ago would lead to something worse? Was the table about to collapse on my foot? Was there something I was going to trip over? Was I about to get the boot out of the restaurant? Was it a joke about the meat in my meal? Was it meaning that I should read Dr. Seuss later in the day? Left Foot. Right Foot. Small Foot. Big Foot. Foot. Foot. Foot.

I guess it was to humble me and to help me focus on the little things in life, or the parts of life that are way down low, or the importance of the unconsidered areas of life. It was probably just to make me and my wife laugh, just like we did. I will keep this memory forever.

Lessons Learned: I need a laugh every day. I need to get a foot massage.

Thoughts: What funny saying have you had in your fortune cookie?


#failalot