The Birthday that didn't come and yet it did

life goes on and it has not been a year and yet a year in the life has past
death goes on...apart, a part of life
no more candles to be blown out but many which are lit because of you
a day to remember, but there are no days that we forget
the gift of you
a picture, a book, a moment, a glimmer as if you were just there
and you were, you are...you are not
the void is:
sad, hard, real, deep, good because it teaches us what a life can mean

we go on...
remembering, crying, laughing, living
sometimes it overwhelms...that's okay, it has to be
sometimes it lifts and inspires...you...lift and inspire still
you lived for us...such life...you live in us
a day...one day...some days...a birth, a life
worth celebrating...
time for cake

Leather Chairs at McDonald's

When I was a kid we didn't go out that much for fast food and now as an adult it's even less so I confess to it being a long time since I set foot in a McDonalds.  I still can't remember the last time I ate at one (though I have had their sweet tea from the drive through), but I walked into one today and was surprised to see leather chairs next to mahogany coffee tables and granite looking table tops.  Even the lighting was designed to create separate little spaces for people to eat and talk and hang out.  The history of McDonalds is one of innovation so it really should not come as a surprise that they are adapting to what people want and were the first to offer things like free internet forcing others like Starbucks and Barnes and Noble to make their's free as well.  It is easy to get snobbish about fast food and to see places like McDonalds and others like them as the reason why kids are so obese and there is some truth to it, but it's more about the mentality of a lifestyle that doesn't have time to sit down and have a proper meal and about eating too much, than it is about the food anymore.  There are healthy options and now even this fast food place is inviting you to sit down and stay and have a private moment with your friends and family in the separate spaces they have created for you, but you can still grab your super sized meal togo.  The reality is that even top chefs applaud them for the way they train people and they have paid attention and even seem to care about people's choices.  Their history is worth reading.
Leather chairs at McDonald's should teach us all a lesson about paying attention, about listening to the pulse of societal need.  It's not about being more fancy, it's about meeting people where they are or where they want to be, maybe need to be...taking a break in a space with friends or alone, pausing in the midst of the fast life, fast food world, even if the food is fast.