Meet George Rester

Life confirmed to me, once again, that one should always put on a little makeup before leaving the house. You never know who you are going to meet.

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Take for example, Mr. George Rester, who Gracie and I met over the orange stand at our grocery store. Gracie was helping me pick oranges and put them into the sack when she and Mr. Rester first caught one another's eye. Grace is extremely flirty with older gentlemen (older ='s 65-80's). He was immediately drawn to our cart and after some interaction with Grace, turned his attention to the oranges we had picked. He shook his head and preceded to instruct me in the finer ways of produce selection. We ended up replacing every orange in my bag. I thanked him for the little tutorial, wished him a lovely day, and Gracie blew him about 15 kisses.

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About 90 seconds later, we found ourselves together again in front of the apples. "I'd like to give you another lesson." said he. Four perfect Fuji's and a whole lot of Gracie flirts later, he turned to me and in a very serious fatherly tone said, "You know, you have a very special opportunity to teach your little girl to seek after excellence in everything." He gestured at the produce. "Even apples and oranges." I smiled and nodded, though I'm ashamed to admit that in my mind, I was thinking, "she isn't crying yet, she's learning to help me, and we just finished our list. Today was an excellent shopping day, Sir."

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"Let me tell you a little bit about myself" he continued. This is the part where I knew to get comfy, and take quick inventory of what frozen foods I had waiting in the cart. I soon forgot about all of this as he unfolded his life story. Mr. Rester was born and raised in the swamps of Louisiana. He began working as a logger at the age of 12. It was hard work. He asked a special mentor if she knew of anyone who was able to rise out of their life situation and make more of themselves. She replied that this was the quest of the Renaissance men. So at the age of 15, Mr. Rester decided he would be a Renaissance man. He educated himself in everything, always maintaining his quest for excellence, and found that he was good at drawing. He studied architecture and design. Later in the 60's, he found himself at the World Fair where one Walt Disney also had a few exhibitions. After some interaction with Walt (as Mr. Rester called him) he was invited to join the Disney team. Mr. Rester would work with Disney as the chief architect and designer for several projects including Space Mountain, parts of the Epcot center and Disneyland Tokyo. (You can look him up online. This stuff checks out)

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"Teach her at a young age," he concluded, "a quest for excellence in everything she does." He pointed again at my oranges. "Who could have thought that a poor logger from the swamps would do what I have done."

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Later, I had to smile as I unpacked the groceries. 4 perfect oranges laid alongside 4 perfect apples. But I had come home with more than perfect produce.