Hello. My name is Romeo......

     A new year has come upon the Harris clan and we have nothing but thanks to give for a great 2011. We are looking forward to the happenings of 2012. To finish our year in style, Mike and I took the rented fifteen passenger van back down to Miami to spend Christmas with the Villate clan. We packed up the five kids, baby swing, diapers, bakugans, Harry Potter wands, strollers, baby food, and a partridge in a pear tree and headed down on the nine and a half hour tour. I never doubted but definitely prayed that Eva could not talk the entire trip. In her defense, she is a funny and entertaining chic. Golden, on the other hand, was rolling shotgun with his dad and I had glimpses of a growing young man who is thoughtful and loving. The triplets love to cruise. They are gamers for travel as are my older ones.
     While in Miami, we stayed, as always, with our dear friends, the Guerras. They are incredibly busy folks who always find the time to make us feel at home....by taking us out to do strange things that we normally couldn't do anywhere BUT Miami. (Like a Cleopatra scrub....Bert, my therapist says I may be able to speak about this in a few years without hugging myself and rocking.) Anyhow,on one of our group date nights, Juan told us about a restaurant called Romeo's (pronounced Row-Meh-o). There is no menu and you never know what your going to get. But he swore that the food was awesome and in the end, the experience was worth the risk. So off we went to Coral Way.
     From the outside looking in, Romeo's is no big deal. A small storefront with a few white lights decorating an outdoor patio. Inside, the ambiance was what I would call romantic. Maybe room for twenty tables. But what you did feel from the beginning was the unmistakable feeling that this was going to be memorable. When we were seated, Romeo himself came to our table to welcome us. "Hello. My name is Romeo and I am the chef. I have been here for over twenty years and I cook mostly a Northern Italian cuisine. We have no menu. You just tell me what you love and don't love and I will design a six course meal around what you like. It is an experience that is more about quality versus quantity."
       My mind started racing when he asked about our dislikes. I consider myself adventurous but if truth be told I am deathly afraid of couscous. I can't remember any particularly bad experience with the stuff but the thought of it in my mouth conjures up chewing on regurgitated vomit that has been mixed in beach sand. Should I keep my mouth quiet and enjoy the ride or should I limit my experience with my friends by refusing to attempt a couscous laden meal? I decided to go for it and told Romeo to serve up his best effort. I am glad to say that after a six course meal with my friends and husband, there was no couscous. Every course except my dessert was incredible.And Romeo came out himself to deliver each course. Checking up on our progress.Truly INCREDIBLE. As for the dessert, I needed to have something that just tasted okay to totally appreciate just how incredible the other courses were.After dinner, Romeo came to the table and asked us how we enjoyed our meal. He shook each of our hands and asked us to return to him soon.
    After the meal, I went home thinking about this meal with Romeo and how this night was a representation of our life. Somewhere in the pre mortal existence, Mike and I, along with our friends and family, were sitting around when Heavenly Father, much like Romeo, came to us and said, "Hello. I am the 'chef' of an incredible idea. I will design an incredible experience for you all. It will be more about quality versus quantity." He told us of a great plan. A wonderful adventure with a truly INCREDIBLE outcome. Would we like everything? Probably not. There would definitely be moments filled with couscous but it would help us appreciate the rest of the meal. Would it be worth it. DEFINITELY. The good news was that our brother Jesus would go ahead of us to make sure we could all make it home safely after our outing. And just like our date night, we sat around and chose who we would go down to share this experience with us.
     Like Romeo, Heavenly Father will be with us along the way. In times of couscous, to make sure we are taken care of and after all is said and done, I imagine that Heavenly Father will be there for us in the end too. Welcoming us back and making sure we enjoyed this incredible life.
     Unlike Romeo's, we will not be able to return for a do over so I am making it a point not to miss a thing. To savor every bite of this incredible bounty with all of the people I chose before I was born to share it with.