Miriam... (Not her real name)

Mark had a doctor's appointment yesterday and because they took blood he had to fast. Really, when you have that situation you should really schedule your appointment for early as possible. Anyway, Mark didn't get out of there until lunch time and he was starving. So we decided to try a restaurant that we didn't even know existed until recently. It's called the Greenhouse Inn Restaurant and it is located on the grounds of the Misericordia Home. The restaurant is staffed by Misericordia residents, who are developmentally disabled. It isn't the fanciest of places, and the food was of good cafeteria quality, but that isn't the point. The profits go to a good cause and the staff was quite friendly. When we walked in, we were greeted by a nice lady with a name tag. We'll pretend her name tag read, 'Miriam'. Miriam suggested we sit out in the actual greenhouse, which was very pleasant. After a quick, informative explanation of how ordering works (most of the staff can't read) Miriam engaged in some small talk with us.

"Well I guess it's finally fall weather isn't it?"

"Yes, I love it. After twenty seven years in Florida I..... "

Miriam interrupted my most interesting story about Florida, "Oh, Florida! My husband and I used to visit Florida all the time. I had a cousin who lived down there. We would spend a lot of time down there. Blah, blah, blah, blah...."

"Where in Florida did... "

"We were down by Tampa.. "

 "Oh, Tampa. We lived... "

 "...and we had such a wonderful time down there. We would blah, blah, blah, blah..."

Miriam would not stop talking. I could barely get a word in and all this time she had still not turned in our order to the kitchen.

"Is this your first time here?" Miriam asked.

"Yes, we... "

"Let me tell you how it works here. You know that most of the staff are all residents. So please allow for that. Do you fellows live around here?"

"We do. Over by Peterson and California Avenues... "

"I lived in Long Beach for awhile. I loved California.." Miriam launched into a story about Long Beach.

"Um, no. We aren't from California. We live near California Avenue.... "

"That was back in the seventies, and I had such a good time, blah, blah, blah, blah...."

By this time Miriam had pulled up a chair and was sitting down at our table having a nice conversation. A one sided conversation, and she seemed to be enjoying herself until another lady with a name tag came over and urged Miriam to turn in our order.

Now you might think that Miriam was one of the residents of the Misericordia Home for developmentally disabled people. But no, Miriam was one of the lovely elderly ladies who volunteer. The actual residents who work there are much more efficient and business like. But that's okay, Miriam was a hoot and made us feel very welcome and important.

The Greenhouse Inn is located at 6300 North Ridge Avenue, in Chicago. Their hours are from 11am to 2:30pm, Tuesday through Friday, with brunch on Sunday. Click here for their web site.