I met Anna this past Friday. We started chatting and I could have stayed with her for hours, maybe shared coffee, and perhaps one of her famous freshly made cannolis.
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It has been more than fifteen years since I was once in Rinaldo's Bake Shoppe in Dayton, Ohio. I was there to pick up a strawberry filled cake for a party at Lion Apparel, where I used to work. Something about their bakery stood out in my mind and Friday I just had to get there.
Anna was behind the counter and she buzzed me in; the store has been around for decades and unfortunately the neighborhood has been in deep decline for at least the last two decades. The door stays locked and the windows barred. Who can blame them? All those delicious made from scratch pastries would tempt even a saint.
So, I said to Anna that I needed some baked goods and was eeny-meeny-miney-mowing over which ones looked best. Then I announced that I needed something special for my daughter-in-law. Anna's eyebrows went up and in her adorable Italian accent she asked, "Is she a good one?" "She's the best!" I answered. "Then she needs the best; I'll be right back." With that Anna headed to the back of the bakery and came back with her filled-on-the-spot homemade cannoli. Well, for heaven's sake - that was special treatment! Or really good sales!
We began chatting about good daughters-in-law and such when around the corner came Rinaldo. Oh my goodness, how cute they were together!
As we talked together I began sharing about my Pirate Husband off on his grand adventure. Anna was shocked I wasn't with him. As Rinaldo came over and put his arm around Anna, resting his hand on her hip, I asked, "Is he bossy, Anna?" She looked perturbed and said that he was bossy and impatient. He just smiled. I imagine she has to swat him away throughout the day. I just grinned!
Anna gave Rinaldo "a look" when she said they had retired twenty-two years ago and are still working every day.I shared how we have worked together every day, side by side, for more than a decade and it's a big adjustment.
Anna nodded when I said he made me so angry when I couldn't reach him and imagined fifty ways he could have died, crying all night long until he called twelve hours later. She knew. She understood. She asked if I had a good life insurance policy on him! Now that was the best piece of advice I've had in a long while and I mulled over it while I sat in the car devouring my Boston cream pie doughnut.
Rinaldo nodded and smiled, told me I had definitely better come back...all the while having his arm around Anna's waist and his hand on her hip. I loved it.
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