Stone-cold Kindness at the Stone House Restaurant

By Cindi Lamb

“Bill, didn’t you get my reservation?” I yelled across the eatery as I entered the standing-room-only Stone House Restaurant in beautiful downtown Conowingo, MD. 

“I musta missed it!” he yelled back, and he continued to bus the tables and chat with the customers as if they were all his family.  His wife, Theresa, was slinging out plates of cheddar cheese & mushroom omelettes, loaded with lightly fried fresh mushrooms from Rockee’s Mushroom Outlet in Avondale, PA.  Man-oh-man, thems is tasty shrooms!

My family and I have been enjoying the Big-Ben sized blueberry pancakes, the homemade sausage gravy and biscuits, and the savory omelettes for 20 years at the Stone House, but honestly, I don’t know if it’s the draw of the home-cooked meals or the fact that I finally found someone who talks more than me (Bill!) that keeps us coming back for more.  

Anyhow, we chatted with Bill and a few other eaters while we waited for our breakfast.  We watched as other folks came in and we smiled and said good-bye to everyone who left. A cute young woman with a radiant smile sat adjacent to our table. As she stood up to leave, she looked at my husband and said “Hi”. I thought she probably knew Gordon from Dollar General where he works part time.  

As she passed behind Gordon, she lightly tossed some money on our table and said “Breakfast is on me, enjoy!” and she whizzed out the door, leaving so quickly that we didn’t even have a chance to say thank you!  Gordon and I looked down at the table at the same time, and saw a $20 bill! Then Gordon picked it up, unfolded it, and there was another $20 bill!!

“Holy cheeses!” I said, “Who does that?”  We were incredulous, and so were the people sitting near us. There was an audible slice of silence as we all witnessed this act of stone-cold kindness.  It made us think, reflect, then one by one, folks started to relay how they had been kind to strangers in the past. Some had paid the toll for the car behind, one person would leave tips that equaled the total amount of the bill, and two people paid for groceries for the person ahead of them who was struggling to find enough change at the bottom of a purse.  

Two things we all agreed upon: we hadn’t been generous in a while, and we all were certain that giving provided much more joy than receiving (but I sure do enjoy receiving!!)

How about you? What unconditional giving have you enjoyed lately? Not just money (although money is awesome too!), but giving of your time and talents to someone. I’ll not wax and wane about generosity here, but I gotta tell ya, this really changed our day and our outlook.

What would you have done with the $40.00?  Would you pay it forward? Spend it? Save it?

One more question:
What do you think we did with the money?

A. $20 paid for breakfast and $20 was paid forward to someone

            else 
at the restaurant.

B. $20 paid for breakfast and $20 was spent at the #8185 Port 

            Deposit VFW for a cocktail (for me, Gordon drives), fries, 

            and a few games of Keno.

C. We donated the $40 to a local charity

The answer: Come sit with me on “My Couch” in two weeks to find out!

Thanks so much for your eyes and your time, 


Gratefully, Cindi

PS: I haven’t written a new story for “I’m not madd anymore” for over a month because:

• the new semester began which keeps me so busy

• it’s our favorite time of the year to go camping!

• it is much more difficult than I imagined writing about Laura and the crash. It puts me back in the truck, back at Hopkins pediatric intensive care unit for almost seven years, back in the wheelchair, and back with a broken heart.  It sort of PTSD’s me, I think. But I will continue writing the stories because I want to and I need to, as soon as I can. 

• AND: we bought a new camper, and it ROCKS!! 

I appreciate your kind grace and patience,

        Cindi