My father’s birthday is October 31^st.  This year he is 81 years young.  In spite of typical aging issues, he is remarkably healthy and fit. He has avoided most chronic health conditions.  He still drives well, mows his lawn and manages his daily activities with little assistance.

My grandson, Alex’s birthday is October 5^th.  This year he is 13 years old.  They both live in the same town about 5 hours from where I live.

My husband and I drove down to take them out to dinner to celebrate their respective birthdays.  We picked up my Dad first and then drove over to pick up my two grandsons, Alex and James.

Finding ourselves at a chain seafood restaurant, a lively discussion regarding what food to order ensued.  Neither my grandson, Alex nor my father (Papa) had ever eaten crab legs or lobster.  They both share a love of shrimp.

Debating the merits of al a carte vs platters, Alex and my dad ended up with a plate of food that would have been three meals for me.   They had crab legs, lobster tail, fried shrimp, shrimp scampi and rice.  My grandson James opted for a traditional steak meal.

Watching my dad and his 13 year old great grandson side by side, cracking the hard shell of the crab was priceless.  They each experimented with different techniques to get to the delicious pieces of crab inside.  Butter dripped, shells cracked and tall tales flowed.  Everyone was smiling!

The lobster dripping in butter was no match for Alex.  It was one of his favorite things on the plate.  My dad didn’t enjoy the flavor nearly as much, but Alex helped him out and finished his lobster as well his own.  Neither my dad nor Alex took home a significant amount of leftovers.

The service wasn’t great.  No one served us for quite some time and when everyone else’s food was coming out, the server let me know they were out of what I had ordered.  The sides we received were not what we ordered.  Even with the issues of service, the memories were priceless.