The Birthday Banquet

         I just wanted a cup of coffee so we stopped at McDonald’s. We were sitting there when they came in, a little family — right out of Norman Rockwell — a young man and woman with three little children; a boy who might have been eight, a girl, a little younger and a toddler. The young mother was wearing a corsage made of wild flowers and holding the toddler by the hand.

         The boy went up to the counter and ordered the meal — burgers and fries. He got out a change purse, but when he saw the total come up on the cash register he seemed surprised. He whispered something to his father who slipped him a couple dollars. They led the mother to a table and sat down to eat. Before unwrapping their burgers, they bowed their heads and said grace.

         When the children sang ‘happy birthday, dear Mommy,’ everyone in the place applauded. I might have been embarrassed to have tears in my eyes except that everybody else did, too.

         You could tell this was a family who didn’t have a lot of money. The father was wearing some kind of work uniform with the name Kenny displayed on the shirt pocket. The young woman was wearing faded jeans and a red and white gingham shirt made of the same material as the little girl’s blouse.

          I thought this young man, Kenny, must be setting a fine example to his young, teaching them by his own actions how to treat their mother. And this young mother who is eating her birthday dinner at McDonald’s, paid for with nickels and dimes saved up by her little boy and girl, is greatly blessed. To Kenny and his children, she is beloved.


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