Maybe we are not that old (or are we?) to be able to say something like: "Hey, that kid reminded me of someone I know a while back, ME!". And then we couldn't help ourselves to smile and feel a bit nostalgic over those memorable childhood moments.

What about this, have you ever looked at someone and suddenly having this predisposition that that is probably how you are going to turn into, say, in 30-40 years?

I have.

But first, let me digress.

The sibblings and I went to this little Chinese place called Joyluck for this week's Friday dining out. There are only enough seats for 10-15 people at a time there, but no worries, they usually do not make a full house. The reason for them not to provide a sizeable eating area is that they make more business in delivery and take-out. To make it even more efficient, the serving plates, the plates, the cups, and the eating utensils for the "for here" patrons are disposable.

There is a painting of children playing, if you count them carefully, there are exactly 100 kids depicted there. There is also a 6' Laughing Budha close to the cashier and an elaborately decorated worship altar in red and gold by the swinging kitchen door. The owner, a middle aged husband-and-wife duo of Hongkong origin, takes pride in serving their food and boasts the place as THE place for delivery and take out in Brazos Valley. Tastewise, this is the best americanized Chinese food I have ever tested, in CS anyway.

What I like about this place is the mom-and-pop way of the business, there is something personal about eating there, unlike those buffet places that provide cheap food for the masses but in the same time bleed your taste buds to death. In a way, Joyluck is "Shop around the Corner" and the buffet places are "Fox Books". Pardon the reference.

The place has quite an ecclectic range of customers from college students, young families, older people and everything in between. I have noticed that they are mostly whites, not that it matters. A few years back, when I used to eat in there most days of the week, there was this police officer, who would come at the same exact time for dinner, ordered the same food, seated at the same table, alone. Today, other than the three of us who opted to dine in, there was also this older couple.

About the same time when the gentleman was approaching the cashier to order, another lady was innocently cutting in front of him. She immediately apologized to the man, offered him to place the order first, but the man politely let her order first. From then on, conversations were carried between the three of them. And we, of course, bound to overhear everything.

The lady was talking about how she has been enjoying the place for more than a decade now. Apparently, she got hooked on Chinese food since that Amy Tan book, The Joy Luck Club was out back in 1993. The gentleman, who turned out to be a literature professor at the local community college, mentioned a lot of Miss Tan's other literary works but quickly proclaimed that he never read any of them, and most of other books for that matter. His wife, who was mostly silent but listening attentively all the time, has two Masters' degree and works somewhere in the university's medical school.

Somehow they all got into talking about this horizon-widen-quantum-physics-inspired-part-documentary-part-story movie. Addresses and telephone numbers were quickly exchanged since the lady is interested to rent the movie somewhere, so in case the movie is not available, the couple promise her to loan their copy.

The lady did not stop there, she then inquired about the couple's relationship status (they are husband and wife, of course), why the different last names (the two married when he was 44, and she was 42, so he suggested her to keep her maiden name, "Why all the hustles?", he said, "We are over half of our life expectancy, anyway."), why he moved from Oregon to Texas (he had been falling in love with Texas from the time he served at Fort Sam Houston, and there is the missionary work he has been involved the whole time), and if they have kids ("No, we don't, but we have lots of nieces and nephews, terrific nieces and nephews who have children of their own and seem to multiply like rabbits").

Finally, after a seemingly eternity, the food the lady ordered was ready and she was getting ready to leave, but not after saying a long hasty good-byes and promises to be in contact with the couple. The couple then continued their eating in silence, with some silly conversation in between, well, mostly in silence. They seemed to enjoy it. "True friends are two people who are comfortable sharing silence together." You've heard that one before, no?

So, anyway, pardon the long story. My point is simple. Now that I've heard those little details about the wife, I couldn't help picturing myself to be on her shoes. Her marriage, her attitude, her conservative appeareance, her background, I could be her in thirty something years!