PRINCESS LEAH

It is rare
that I am upstaged by someone
more forward than myself
but it does happen
  


One such example would be Princess Leah.  She’s not an official ‘princess’ of course, but to me she is.

Our first encounter was at the beginning of summer, where Leah works as a hostess at a busy downtown restaurant.  Because my entire morning diet consists of liquids of some sort (coffee, water, smoothie), it is imperative that I hit up all available restroom opportunities at the beginning of my shift.  This particular bathroom break is required only once; all others are conducted at the other end of the route.

Being the good hostess that she is, Leah is very proactive in welcoming patrons to the restaurant, even bus drivers needing to use the facilities.  My pit stop there, once a week, occurs during the busy lunch-hour, when the place is a beehive of activity, with servers rushing in all directions delivering food.

In our first encounter, Leah greeted me with a big smile, and a hearty “Hello!”  Somewhat surprised by just how hearty that “Hello" was, I returned it with the same, and proceeded to carefully wind my way through the bustle towards the bathrooms, hoping to avoid causing any accidents amidst all the activity.  My exit from the bathroom and restaurant was greeted with the same heartiness in a “See ya!”

Our second encounter a week later was a carbon-copy of the first, but, it was our third encounter that ramped the relationship up a notch.  As I exited the bathroom and wound my way through the crowd, heading for the door, Leah spotted me half-way down the bar, and slowly began to lift her right arm high into the air as I approached.  A bit surprised at first, I realized she was going to send me off with a ‘high-five’.  (Holy crap--all this, the result of three quick encounters over a three-week period.)  Not one to ever pass up such an offer, I obliged her with ‘five’ as I passed and was honored to be accorded such a distinction in her eyes.

Each Monday throughout the summer, we would repeat some version of this scenario, until mid-July, when she raised the stakes again.  As I was entering the restaurant that day, she got the jump on me with the loud greeting, “Hey Gorgeous!”  Taken aback once again, I responded with “Hey Darling!”.  It was with that encounter that she became “Princess Leah”.

A few weeks passed when she was either not working, or was busy helping to deliver food.  Then, one day, not spotting her at all, I noticed as I was about to exit the door after conducting business, that one of the waiters was standing out on the sidewalk, either looking to hail a cab for someone, or pointing out an open parking spot to a waiting car.  As I approached him on the curb, just before crossing the street to return to my bus, a black car, double-parked across the street, slowly rolled down its window.  Out the open window came an arm, and with it, the loud greeting, “Hey Gorgeous!”

The last time we crossed paths, she informed me she graduated to server.  It couldn't have happened to a sweeter princess.

We have since upgraded our high-five status to a hug.