Hello and good day!
We have a customer who comes into our chocolate shop frequently.
I'd guess that she is in her late sixties or early seventies.
I'm not sure if she reads these daily emails, but if she does, I'll probably hear from her about it the next time I see her.
She is a beautiful woman. Her hair is grey, long, and thick. She has strong, broad shoulders. Her eyes sparkle with lively intelligence.
She loves to cook, eat, and read.
If you need a restaurant recommendation for anywhere within thirty miles of our shop, she is the person to ask.
Not only will she tell you which place is the best, but she will also tell you all about the owner and the history of the business.
Whenever she comes into our shop, she and I chat for a very long time.
She is a great person, sweet, funny, energetic and with so much to say.
As it turns out, we both have hearing problems. My problem is less grave than hers.
She wears hearing aids in both ears, but it is her right ear in particular that gives her more difficulty. For my part, my left ear is the weakside.
When we talk to each other, we stand side by side and talk sideways, with my right ear and her left ear facing one another.
I know something about her history.
She married a man who was twenty years her senior and they had a wonderful marriage. I remember how she described meeting her husband.
"I was just this cute little thing, playing beach volleyball in my bikini. He was this handsome and suave older man. He swept me off my feet."
Her husband passed away several years back.
They didn't have any kids.
She lives out in a beautiful country house alone, cooking, and doing yardwork.
She gets out in the community and makes friends and knows all the owners of the local food establishments.
Just the other day, when she was in our shop, she hipped me to something.
"I'm looking for a man. I'm tired of being alone so much," she said.
"That should be easy enough. You're a catch," I said.
"It's harder than you think. I've been looking for a while."
"I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find somebody. You have so much going for you. Anybody would be lucky to have you."
After our conversation, I tried to think of all the single men I know who are in her age range and who come into our shop.
A couple of fellows I could potentially set her up with came to mind.
We used to have a teenage girl, age 17, who worked in our shop, and she was hilarious. She doesn't work for us anymore because she moved away.
She was always cracking jokes and doing impressions.
God she was funny.
She was great with our customers too.
Everybody loved her.
Anyhow, there was this one fellow who our teenage employee swore she had a crush on.
We didn't believe her because this man is in his seventies.
She insisted that he was one of the coolest and nicest men she'd ever met.
I couldn't disagree with her on that.
The man in question has always been one of my favorites as well.
He's got a nice head of well-combed silver hair. He wears glasses.
He is tall, with a lean frame, and a hard handshake.
He is always smiling, and he always has something nice to say to whomever he is speaking.
I didn't think it was possible for a young girl to have a puppy love crush on a man who is so much older.
I guess you learn something new every day.
As a person who loves finding out about all the interesting little details that the world has to offer, that revelation was a precious morsel for me to chew on.
It changed the way I see certain things.
Anyhow, this whole situation reminds me of a scene from the biopic that came out about Whitney Houston a couple of years ago. There is a scene in which Clive Davis and Whitney Houston are in the recording studio.
Whitney Houston says something like the following, "I am so sick of singing love songs all the time."
"But you want to make hits right?", asks Clive Davis.
"Of course I do," says Whitney.
"I hate to break it to you kid. Almost every hit song is a love song," says Clive Davis.
I don't recall the exact words from the scene, but what I've written above is the idea.
The point is that falling in love is the most primordial desire in the world.
And it never goes away.
I speak from experience here.
I fell hard for my wife 21 years ago and that whole phase of my life looms large in my psyche as an incredibly magical period.
The excitement of knowing that I would see her every day after work, and that she would be waiting for me, and that she was looking forward to seeing me too, it meant so much.
It still does, but with kids and life and business, you settle into a routine.
But when it is new, there isn't much that can compare with the feeling of falling in love.
Given that I want to be a positive and productive member of my community and given that I want to help out my neighbors in the best way I possibly can, it sure seems to me that one of the best things I could do for my wonderful customer is introduce her to some of the good men that I know.
Maybe the man who our young employee had a crush on is available.
I know that he is a widower and single.
But I don't know if he is in the market for romance.
I'm going to look into it.
Here are two final thoughts before signing off.
First, this specific scenario is why I don't want to franchise our chocolate shop model and become a massive company.
We've had offers.
I've turned them down.
I really like being in the shop and getting wrapped up in the lives of my neighbors. It makes me feel like I'm living in the Andy Griffith show.
Second, if you can help a friend who is looking for a mate find somebody good and give them the chance to experience falling in love, that is just about the best favor you can do for a person.
Maybe I should set up a Fortunato Chocolate dating service.
Call me the chocolate matchmaker.
Thank you so much for your time today.
I hope that you have a truly blessed day!
Adam
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