Best Shot Monday: Friends and Strangers Project, Ted

I'm currently taking an online class from Liv Lane called Choosing Beauty.  I discovered Liv a couple years ago and was immediately taken in by her positive attitude and the fact that she is a "human sparkler."  Human sparkler? Isn't that awesome!?  Though I'm typically a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of girl to begin with, this class serves as a daily reminder that beauty lies all around us, even where we might least expect it.

This picture is a great example of that.  It's certainly not a "Best Shot Monday" candidate from a technical standpoint, but when I watched this moment unfolding, it struck me how beautiful it truly was.  I know I've mentioned Chowder Ted's in the past, but here's your official introduction to the man behind the chowder, so to speak.  What struck me most about this moment is the beauty of this little place. No, the kitchen of our great little neighborhood seafood dive is not exactly beautiful, unless the beauty is in its workhorse simplicity.  But "the place"...that's quite beautiful.

Chowder Ted's is literally within walking distance from our house.  We're just east of Brown's Creek; Ted's is just west of Brown's Creek.  We started coming here when we bought our lot, six years before we actually built the house, and our girls have truly grown up there. Their first visit was at six weeks old, sitting in their carriers, thankfully sleeping the whole time. We've been blessed to call Ted and his family friends and have even shared a few Christmas Eves with them. One of my girls' friends at school even said to her one day, "Hey! Why is your picture on the wall at Chowder Ted's?!?!" 

As my girls ran back into the kitchen to give Ted a hug and catch up last Thursday night, I realized what a gift we have been given in this little place. We've made new friends here, shared birthdays here, celebrated holidays here, and even walked over to check to make sure it wasn't getting flooded during a really bad storm when Ted couldn't get to the restaurant! Heck, we even help bus tables! So, a technically beautiful picture?  No. To someone who knows knowing of this place, it's just a blurry snapshot.  But to me, it's another example of how finding beauty isn't always a visual thing; it can also be found in personal connections and a tiny little seafood dive. 

For more Friends and Strangers Project posts, click here.