The Good Life

Through the window, he saw his past, present, and future through vivid imagery. It was painful and delightful, dreaded and anticipated, and demoralizing and hopeful. At Bob’s Diner, where he ate at least a thousand times, Barry could recall the joys of living in a small town with friends and family. His face lit up when he saw his favorite booth, where the best stories were told, the best friends he ever had would sit for hours talking about all kinds of things, and where he would find love for the first time.

Katie was a gorgeous woman, so full of life and love that her heart could barely contain it. Barry knew she was out of his league, but it never stopped him from dreaming of their life together. Her beautiful long brown hair and kind green eyes were constantly in his mind, even after three decades. Little did he know what awaited him that fateful day.

Barry, now a successful CEO at a Fortune 500 company, never believed he would be back in this town. In fact, he swore he would never step foot in it again after he left to pursue his dreams. He thought it was too small, as if somehow that made it beneath his station in life. Ever since he was a small child, Barry had a fascination with earning money, and his childhood made this evident to everyone around him. When he was only five, Barry set up a lemonade stand, but he quickly expanded his empire by hiring other children and paying them to do the hard part. Barry collected the money and disbursed it as needed. By the time he was 11, he had his parents open an investment account, and Barry had 23 different stocks to his name (technically in his parents’ names). Nothing could hold Barry back from what he believed to be the good life.

When Barry was 16, he purchased his first car, a used Toyota Camry. Always the one to negotiate, Barry was able to get the vehicle for a couple thousand less than the dealer’s stick price. By this point, Barry had created a successful company paying bills for important people in the big city an hour away. This was before the days of online bill pay, folks. He always had a plan, and he was always looking for creative ways to make money.

As focused as Barry was on making money, he still had friends and family that he loved. His parents were hardworking blue-collar workers and did the best they could to provide for Barry and his brother and sister. Barry didn’t look down on his parents’ professions when he was growing up, but he realized that wasn’t the life he wanted. Barry dreamed of owning a mansion, a yacht, and many fast cars. Barry had three main friends since they all started kindergarten. Wayne, Nick, and Steve all enjoyed football and wrestling, and they bonded over it at a very young age.

When he was 17, one Saturday evening in mid-August, Barry and his friends would visit Bob’s Diner, as they often did. In the booth next to them, Barry saw a beauty that he never comprehended could exist in this world. It was Katie, but of course he didn’t know her name yet. In their first encounter, Barry knew that he didn’t have the guts to even utter a word in this young woman’s presence. It would be another six weeks before he could even muster the courage to say hello to her. He noticed that every Saturday evening at 7 pm sharp, she would walk into the diner, and she ordered the exact same meal every time. She had a bacon cheeseburger with no onions, a side of fries, and a chocolate milkshake.

One Saturday in October, Barry gathered his courage and arrived at the diner at 6:40 pm. He ordered two of the meal that Katie ordered, and he waited. By the time Katie arrived, the meals had just been placed at the booth where Barry sat, his favorite booth in the corner. When he saw Katie, Barry sheepishly asked her to join him. When she looked and saw her favorite meal, her heart was filled with compassion at the gesture. She decided to take a seat. That night, during their conversation, Katie felt a spark with Barry, and they soon began dating.

When they both graduated from high school nearly a year later, they attended the university in the big city together. They would spend the next five years together, where Barry graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA, and Katie would graduate with a bachelor’s degree in nursing and go through her first year of nursing school.

As was their tradition, every Saturday, they would drive back home and eat at the diner. Katie would have her regular meal, and Barry loved her predictability in that meal. It gave him comfort knowing that some things never change. This particular Saturday was going to be different. You see, Barry had a plan, and it involved a ring. He had been saving for over two years for this ring, and with his financial acumen, this was not a cheap ring by any standards. His plan was to have their regular meal, and at the end of the meal, he would hide the ring at the far end of a piece of chocolate cake. He made sure the manager, cook, and server all knew of his plan, and they helped him put his master plan into action.

As Katie went to grab the last piece of cake, Barry asked her to check inside the cake. She did, and she was completely taken aback by what she found. As she was going through the piece of cake, Barry managed to slide out of the booth and get down on one knee. When she looked for him, tears began welling up in her eyes.

After he proposed, she told him a story, one that would change his life forever. The week before he graduated from graduate school, Katie received a call from her father. Katie’s mother wasn’t feeling well for some time, and they decided to see the doctor. After going to another doctor for a second opinion, it was clear that Katie’s mother had cancer. It was stage 2 cancer, so there was still hope. Katie opted to postpone nursing school to spend more time with her mother. After they were married, Barry was planning to move them to another city three hours away, where a lucrative job offer was waiting for him. As Barry saw it, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he didn’t think he would receive another.

After Barry heard what Katie had to say, he slowly got up and sat back in the booth. He agonized over how to proceed from here. On one hand, there was the love of his life; on the other, it was a dream job where he could make the kind of money he always dreamed of making. It wasn’t an easy decision for Barry, but he ultimately decided he would take the job and could back for Katie later.

Katie spent the next four years with her mother and father, and they enjoyed the good times. When her mother passed away, Katie was devastated. She spent the year after her mother’s death in mourning, and no one could console her. Barry tried reaching out several times, but Katie couldn’t bear to hear his voice because of all the pain she was in at the time. They grew apart, and Barry felt the loss of Katie in ways that he couldn’t describe with words.

Years later, Barry found out that his mother died suddenly of a heart attack. Barry decided he would go back home to attend his mother’s funeral. After a beautiful service, Barry walked by the diner, not realizing it had closed years before because the owner passed away, and he didn’t have any children to keep the diner in the family. That’s when he looked through the window and saw his past, present, and future. All of a sudden, Katie walked up behind Barry and tapped him on the shoulder. She offered her condolences and they caught up on life. Barry noticed the front door to the diner was partially opened, and they managed to push the door open. Barry asked Katie to wait a few minutes and that he would be right back. Barry went to the closest restaurant and ordered a piece of chocolate cake and two plastic forks, then he went back to the diner. He and Katie spent hours there talking about life, death, chocolate cake, and dreams left unconsidered. At that point, Barry realized his life was not as successful as it once seemed.

Determined to change his future, Barry once again knelt down beside the booth and asked Katie if she would marry him. She said that she would, but her condition was that they live in this small town for the rest of their life together. This time, Barry agreed without hesitation. Despite being a multi-millionaire at this stage in his life, Barry was ready to let go of the life that he once viewed as the good life, and he traded it in for a life of charitable giving, selfless sacrifice, and love. This was truly the good life.