Favorite eating places…..I’m guessin’ everybody has a few.

My girlfriend has a Jewish Deli that she heads to soon as she hits L.A.

When we used to fly back east, first stop off the plane was always the nearest White Castle for me.

Sometime during our stay, we’d visit Senate Coney Island in Detroit and of course anyone from Downriver knows about Bob-Jo’s Frozen Custard.

………………..

There’s a small sandwich shop in Pacific Grove, California.

In all the magical years that we lived in that little Hamlet of a town, we ate lots of their sandwiches, each one better than the one before, never even a teeny disappointment.

Six months ago we were just passing through and met friends for coffee but didn’t stay long enough for lunch.

This time when we went back for a dose of the Pacific, we had coffee in the morning but didn’t eat, and we would be staying for lunch

………………..

We walked into “GOODIES” and went backwards, 20 years.

Nothing had changed including the familiar aroma of the sandwiches that hit us 2 steps inside.

Same menu on the wall…..#3 Hot Ham and Baked Brie and #9 Hot Pastrami.

The deli case was loaded with so many fresh, delicious looking salads that choosing one would be decision-making-stressful. 

Their Soup of the Day was always pick-up-your-bowl-and-lick-it-clean-good.

The baked goods case displayed something wonderful for everyone.

As a matter of fact, many something wonderfuls.

Walking away from the chocolate brownies or any one of a number of their cookies, or a piece of their cake or pie, was….. painful.

 

It’s one of those places that there’s absolutely no room for anything else after eating one of their sandwiches but that doesn’t matter, you have to have something anyway!

Over the years we’d eaten our share of the salads, soups and baked goods but this time we were goin’ for our usual, #3 for me and #9 for Lobo….. a bag of chips, a pickle and we’d be good to go.

After we placed our order, we sat at our favorite little table in the corner….. the one that gave a glimpse of the Ocean. and we watched the same woman who made our sandwiches 20 years ago, make two more.

  

And the last question before she wrapped, ‘Pickle or no pickle?”

“One pickle and lots of napkins, please.”

She wrapped them neatly, taped them closed and placed them in a white paper bag along with one wrapped pickle and a handful of napkins.

It was 11:00 in the morning and already a beautiful day.

We headed for Lover’s Point Park, only minutes away.

We found a table and sat side-by-side looking out at Monterey Bay.

 

The sun was shining, the air was warm, families were down on the beach, kids were running in and out of the water, a hiking club with about 50 seniors were having lunch, and happy tourists were walking the paths and snapping pictures from every angle possible as it’s all beautiful, no matter what direction you looked.

The very chubby, over-fed squirrels were scurrying from person to person with no fear, standing up on two feet to get a better look at what was being consumed and hoping for something to either fall or be tossed their way. 

The seagulls stood behind the squirrels who were doing all the begging work and rushed in squacking when food was offered. 

Yep, there’s signs all over to PLEASE DON’T FEED THE WILDLIFE but, that takes amazing self control.

The wildlife on the Monterey Peninsula, aren’t afraid of people. 

They’ve never had to be so they don’t know the things we do.

They’re pretty much protected and safe. 

The deer are often seen in the middle of the day, walking down any number of streets. 

For me, it was and still is a thrill.

Carefully we opened the white bag, removed our sandwiches making sure not to tear any of their wrapping.

Our plan was to wallow in just half of the huge creations and then eat the other half sometime after we were home.    

Lobo opened his chips and I ate my pickle and then together we took our first bites.

Better than ever!

I think the squirrels and seagulls caught our vibes…..DON’T EVEN TRY IT…..they weren’t getting even one piece. 

They only stayed for a moment then left looking for someone eating whose eyes weren’t rolling in the back of their heads with each bite.

We finished together.

It would have been SO EASY to scarf down the second half but….we agreed before our first bite that it would only be HALF.  

No way could I eat ALL of mine and then watch Lobo eat his other half later.
Nope. 

We meticulously rewrapped and retaped our uneaten halves, and placed them in the white bag with the half eaten chips on top. 

Sandwich self-control…..a painful thing.

But, we knew we’d be happy later when were hungry and we’d enjoy them all over again.

We took one more stroll, laughed and shared some of the memories we made right there in that park and then said farewell til next time, to our little heavenly hamlet. 

It’s always a slow drive leaving town; first along the water on Ocean View in PG, past the Aquarium, down through Cannery Row then up to Lighthouse Avenue and under “the honk tunnel” and into Monterey.

Then along the park in Montery and past the Dennis The Menace Park and the paddle boats, and finally past the Naval Post Graduate School.

Two short red lights and we’d be out of Monterey and headed home.

One last look, one last fix.

As we were approaching one of the red lights, we passed an area that we’d walked maybe a thousand times…..a Eucalyptus Grove that eventually led to steps up and through a protected habitat of natural growth leading to steps down to the sand and the sea.

That area held a special spot in our hearts for two reasons.

When we first moved to the coast, we lived in Monterey the first 14 months and THAT was quite an “experience”!!!!!

(If you’re interested in the details of that 14 months, take a look at two of my Blogs, “The Norman Bates Motel” and “The Neighbors From Hell.”)

While living in Monterey, the Eucalyptus path was the closest spot for us to get down to the water so it became our “go-to.”

We had two Schnauzer side-kicks at that time, Bartles and Jaymes.

They were our Ocean Boys.  

We walked that path every day, rain or shine.

Their ears perked, their tails wagged and they sniffed their way to the staircase knowing on the other side was the beach where it was OK for them to run free on the sand ond poop on every pile of seaweed they could find.

They cried pathetically if we ever drove by without stopping. 

Bartles and Jaymes loved the Eucalyptus walk so much that two years ago, when we were able to let go of the urn that held what was left of them both, we brought them with us and we opened the urn and scattered them to lie among the beautiful tall trees.

That’s reason number two why we love that walk.  

Before the light turned green, we looked at each other and at the same time, said the same thing, “let’s go back and visit our boys.”

Lobo hung a U-turn and in a moment we were in the teeny, tiny parking lot that only held maybe a dozen cars, but there was always a spot for us and…..still was. 

It felt so familiar, like it wasn’t all those years ago.

We began down the path and the tears began to flow.  

We could FEEL them.  They were there…..our boys.

We walked all the way up to the stairs and then back.

The smell of the Eucalyptus was intoxicating.

They were in their favorite place in the world, they were happy.

I was buckling up and getting situated for the ride home.

Lobo was doing some rearranging in the back seat.

I noticed a discheveled, obviously homeless man sitting on the stump 

of a tree just across the path from us.

He walked over to the trash can and began to dig through it, he found nothing.

He sat down again, next to a big, old, beat-up duffel bag.

I watched as he unzipped the bag, reached in to what looked like a hard-boiled egg, pulled just a piece off of it and put the rest back in the pack, sprinkled it with what I guessed to be salt and then slowly chewed that teeny part of an egg.

It ripped at my heart.

Lobo happened to have looked up and was quietly watching the same scene.

“He’s hungry. We have sandwiches.”

And he picked up the neatly packed, folded white bag.

“Put an apple in there too and a bottle of water” is all I could say to Lobo’s remark.

There was also a half-eaten box of Cheese-Its back there.  

My husband is that man who’d give you the shirt off his back 

BUT…..NOT his Cheese-It’s! 

To tease, I told him to take the Cheese-Its too.

To tease back…..he ignored me! 

White bag in hand with two halves of our very favorite sandwiches,  half a bag of chips, an apple and a bottle of water, Lobo walked near to him.

“Would you like a sandwich and some water?” he asked and extended the bag to him.

The man looked up at Lobo then into his eyes and down to his heart and without saying a word, Lobo could feel his gratitude as he gently accepted the bag.

I heard my sweet man say, “we care,” as he turned and walked away.

Our eyes met and we were sad.

We drove out of Monterey, on to Highway One and we were quiet.

We were both thinking the same thing…..WHY?

………………..

We arrived home safe and were as excited to see our sweet LooLoo as she was to see us.

She prefers to stay with our daughter Julie and her menagerie of pets rather than drive in the car with us for 3-4 hours shaking scared of the sound that the tires make on the road.

The three of us settled in.

We opened the doors and windows, made sure the bird feeders were all full and as usual, one of our little squirrel buddies was sitting atop the fence chattering and waiting for that blue metal dish that holds unsalted, raw peanuts.

It was a beautiful Sacramento evening.

We had a glass of wine, and toasted to the way we were feeling…..full of gratitude.

The grilled ham & swiss cheese with a fresh tomato slice on sour dough didn’t taste quite as good as what was in that white bag but we hoped with his first bite, his eyeballs rolled back just like ours did and for maybe just a few moments, he enjoyed the sandwiches and forgot the rest.

The point of this story is not for you, my reader friends to think what  decent, giving people Bobfone and I are.  

We pretty much know that.

I’m just wonderin’ if in this same situation, could you forget the judgements and personal opinions and just spare……….. half a sandwich?