It was my mom and dad’s anniversary the other day and they invited my family along with my brother’s family over to celebrate. It was a big crowd, and we had a fun time together…until Savannah asked my parents how they met. I’d heard the story lots of times, but that was before I got my mind-reading abilities, and let me say…the truth came as something of a shock.
My mom started to tell her how they met at a diner where she was a waitress, but in her mind I heard it was a bar and not a diner at all, and she served drinks wearing a short skirt and halter top. That kind of surprised me since she’s such a prim and proper lady now, but it certainly made the story more interesting.
She continued, saying how my dad saw her and was immediately smitten. After coming in a few times just to see her, he asked for her number. Now my mom was was quite the babe back then, and she still looks pretty great, but she got asked for her number a lot, and made it a rule not to give it out.
So the first time he asked, she wouldn’t give it to him, a fact she relished telling us. But here’s where the story got interesting. My dad was thinking that it wasn’t quite like that. Sure, she had turned him down and he was heart-broken, but after one of the other girls thought she was nuts and offered him her own number, my mom had a change of heart and wrote her number down on the back of his receipt.
It was kind of nice to hear his version, but that still didn’t prepare me for the truth I’d never heard. They were talking about how they hadn’t been back to that diner for a long time, and I picked up that there was something about that diner my mom didn’t want me to know. So when Savannah suggested that we all go there for dinner sometime, I was right there with her.
My mom hedged a bit, but my dad started laughing and she swatted him to shut up. I guessed she didn’t want us to know the truth about the bar part and her being a waitress with the skimpy clothes and all, but then I heard my dad thinking it was called, “Shelby’s Bar & Grill,” and maybe it wasn’t so bad to tell me they’d named me after the place they’d met.
My breath caught, and I nearly spilled the beans right then and there. They named me after a bar? And I didn’t know? “Where is this place?” I practically shouted. “I want to see it.”
“It’s in Denver,” my dad said. “A little too far to go for dinner.”
“Oh, yeah,” I agreed. It was a long drive from home, but I was determined that the next time I was in Denver I was going there. I mean, what’s the point of being named after something if you never visit? “Well…next time I’m in Denver, I’m going to stop by. So Mom, what’s the name of this place?”
My dad grinned, but my mom’s brows rose in alarm. She really didn’t want to tell me, but I wasn’t going to let her off the hook. “You know I have premonitions, right?” I continued. “So I’m getting a premonition that it has something to do with my name… so what’s that about?”
It was worth it to see my mother’s eyes bulge a bit, and finally my dad told us the truth. After the shock had worn off, we all had a good laugh, and it hit me how I could have gone through my whole life without knowing something important like that.
“So…mom,” Savannah said. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me about my name?”
Oops.
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