He sure made a mess of things – eh?

My husband and I decided at the last minute to go to the little Italian restaurant on the corner for dinner tonight. The food is pretty good, the atmosphere is cozy, but unfortunately the tables are spaced a little too closely to allow for intimate conversation. But we figured we were getting an early enough start that we’d pretty much have the place to ourselves and privacy would not be much of a concern. And we were right ---- at least for the first half hour we were there.

Just as our meals were arriving, a really sweet-looking older couple came in and was promptly seated at the table right next to us. We did our best to keep our voices down so as not to intrude on their conversation and they seemed to be returning the favor as best they could. But it was impossible not to pick up on bits and pieces of each other’s discussion. And of course I could not help but smile to myself when I heard their conversation turn to George Bush and the lady say: “He sure made a mess of things – eh?”

It seems they were pretty much doing what we had decided to do, have a nice meal, skip the speech, and avoid the heartburn that comes with listening to this President tell us how he is going to make a big mess even bigger.

When our bill was brought to the table, they were just finishing up their meals. The gentleman and his wife turned to us and started up a conversation. We learned they were winter visitors from Toronto, Canada and that they have a condo here and have been wintering in Arizona for years. We learned that they love this country very much, think the world of Americans, and don’t have a real high opinion of George Bush either. But since we all had obviously chosen a quiet dinner in an intimate Italian grotto instead of an evening in front of the boob tube watching the President give a speech, no one was really willing to ruin their nice evening with talk of politics. So we said good-bye to this sweet couple and I quietly sighed with relief as I walked away from the table, maybe the world doesn’t hate us so much after all.