My husband and I sat in the fake leather booth, awaiting our server.  March was my birthday month and the free birthday buffet beckoned.  Would I shovel the stuffed cod onto my plate or the penne pasta?  As long as it was white--there were always the mashed potatoes to consider--I didn't care.
    
A slender young woman in a waitress's uniform headed our way.  I smiled, then bent my head over the dessert menu.  Best to be prepared for when the time came.  Since the dessert was included in the buffet, I wondered if I would be allowed to give my husband a few bites, or if some free buffet alarm would sound and I'd be dragged away to penne prison.

"You have braces," said a surprised voice.

At the same time I said, "Unfortunately," the waitress said, "You're so lucky!"

I looked up from my menu into an unlined face full of yearning.  She met my eyes and when her lips parted in a smile, I saw the wreckage in her mouth.  The upper row of her front teeth was divided in half.  One half stood normally, while the other half pushed back into a row behind where they should have been.  The effect was that of sliding doors where one door had slid off its track.

"I won't be able to afford them until I'm like thirty," she said.  She looked sad, then brightened.  "But at least you get to be like a kid, then, right?"

Her words were hard to understand, probably due to her malformed jaw, but her attitude wasn't.  What I had seen as a burden, she had seen as a blessing.  How old would I have to be before I really got that everything--and everybody--is our teacher?

In the end, I had the cod and a few spears of penne.  It was my birthday month, after all.  And of course we left the waitress a big tip, especially when she brought my Paradise Lemon Cake and said with a wink, "It's your birthday and you can share it with whoever you want."

I'm just glad she shared her sweet attitude with me.