Sam took me on a date on Friday night. I like our dates. They are simple. Sometimes it is a drive in the country to find a perfect place to watch a sunset and see some deer bounding across a field. Sometimes it is a drive through a neighborhood in Kansas City to look at beautiful houses or landscaping. Sometimes it is a concert and a nice dinner, and sometimes it is a hole-in-the-wall place where we can just be, in our jeans and a hoodie.

Friday night was a jeans and hoodie kind of dinner. As we sat in the noisy cafe, we noticed the differences. More patrons than not were in coveralls or overalls. More patrons than not were wearing ball caps and boots.

And.

There were at least a half dozen holsters on belts.

Never have I ever seen so many guys packing a pair of pliers.

What a wonderful world.

Even though we were surrounded by “I seen”s and “Well I’ll be dagnabbered”s, we were pretty grateful for where we are in this moment of time…

…where dinner is best known as supper, where folks are okay with being called folks, where you walk into a hole-in-the-wall for good food and know half the customers, where neighbors pick up the tab for other neighbors, just because.

What a wonderful world.