THE MIRACLE OF LUKE AND LITTLE LUCAS

It was April 2004 and Robin and I went to meet Little Lucas and his parents at a favorite Cajun restaurant of Luke's to celebrate Luke's 3rd Anniversary with them. On the way I thought about how we had celebrated Luke's new job there, just two weeks before Luke died. I thought about asking for that same table that Robin, Emily, Luke and I sat at that day and had such a wonderful dinner. Luke was so happy that day... talking about his new job and his wonderful new friends. It was just one of those "feel good" dinners, where everything went perfect....but that was long time ago.

We arrived at the restaurant and it was packed. It is a very nice and kind of expensive Cajun restaurant Most of the entrees are about $20 each. Robin and I arrived early before Little Lucas and his parents. We walked in with our bag of goodies for Little Lucas and three ORANGE helium balloons. Since the restaurant was so packed I decided not to ask for that special table....knowing that it was probably taken anyway. We told them we needed a table for four and a high chair. The hostess walked us to the back of the restaurant away from that special table that I had hoped for, but then made a quick turn and headed in that direction. My heart was beating fast thinking.... Oh, I wonder if that table is empty. The hostess walked right up to THE EXACT TABLE I was hoping for... Our special table that we had a last meal at this restaurant with Luke. Then we noticed that our table had 5 chairs instead of 4, so we just know one was for Luke. We placed all Luke's special things on the table in front of HIS chair. It was the same chair that Luke had sat in 3 years ago. I said... "Thank you Luke and... you are gooooooood." Then our waiter came over and we told him we were waiting on some others. Then I said...."How many tables are in this restaurant?" (I just was trying to get a feel for the chances of getting that exact table). After some counting... he said..."I think about 60." Then I said... "You see that photo on the table, that is our son Luke and he died about 3 years ago and came to this restaurant a little over three years ago to celebrate his new job and we were hoping to get the same table that we sat at before." The waiter said..."Oh which table is it?" I said... "Well, wait just a minute." Then I continued telling the waiter... "I wanted to ask for that special table but I thought that your restaurant was too crowded. But.... we were ushered to that special table just by chance." The waiter said... "This is that table???? Oh man... what an amazing set of coincidences". Then he said... "Or maybe It wasn't coincidence at all." We both said...."Nope it wasn't coincidence at all." Then Robin said... "And the people that we are meeting here tonight named their baby after our son, and the baby was also born on our son's birthday." The guy was amazed!!! Then we ordered our Fat Tire beer (Luke's favorite) and waited on Little Lucas and his parents. I called them on their way to the restaurant and told them the incredible story.

When they arrived they recognized us right away by the three orange balloons at our table. We had a candle burning, flowers, Luke's travel urn, and of course Luke's photo. When they arrived we all ordered more Fat Tire beer and one for Luke too. So when the waiter brought the drinks he sat Luke's beer down right next to Luke's photo. We all thought that was pretty cool. And when he brought the appetizer, he brought a plate for Luke.

We had a wonderful night of sharing all about Luke and Little Lucas. Jen and Jim shared with us so many wonderful times that they had spent with Luke the entire month before Luke's death. We talked about the Dukes of Hazzard, and if we should paint Luke's car orange. I told them that I wasn't sure whether to paint Luke's car orange or black. We laughed and laughed and didn't cry not even once. It was as if Luke were sitting right there with us sharing in the fun. Little Lucas had grown so very much and he was so cute. It was late and he was very alert and one of the best behaved little babies I have ever seen. He was dressed in a little vest that we had given him that was just like a vest Luke used to wear. It was so touching. Then I was holding Little Lucas and he reached out and grabbed my beer. It fell over and we all just laughed so hard, knowing that Luke had probably put him up to it. The beer almost got all over Jim, and we know Luke would have thought that was hilarious. Then I stood little Lucas up on the table and he began dancing on the table with his little feet as I held him. It was so amazing.... he's got rhythm, just like Luke. Well, I guess all his dancing vibrated the table and a bottle of ketchup fell to the floor and broke. We all laughed again, and then the waiter and some others came over to clean it up and joked that Luke must have knocked it off. This other guy that was with the waiter said that he knew all about our special table, because the waiter had shared it with him. Then this other girl came over and was talking about Little Lucas dancing on the table and said...."Wow, I wonder what he will be like when he is 21." Jen and I just looked at each other in amazement that this lady said this... not knowing about Luke or that Luke was 21 when he died.

Well, If all that is not enough......... The waiter brought the desert tray and we all decided to get just one desert and split it. So I told Jen to choose. She chose either the pecan pie or something else. I asked her if she knew pecan pie was Luke's favorite desert, and she did not. So we all thought that was pretty cool too. Then the waiter came to the table and he said "you know I was telling my manager about this special table, and about your son, and about the baby and he said that he wanted to buy your desert." We said... "Wow that's really nice." Then the waiter said..."But he decided to take care of the entire check, because he was so impressed with your story." We all just looked at each other and started laughing and thanking the waiter..... Then we said as we had one last toast to the special guy who made it ALL HAPPEN.... "To you Luke, thanks for the dinner!!!!"

Oh yes..... ONE MORE THING.... As we were all standing in the parking lot, saying our goodbyes and releasing the ORANGE balloons to Luke and playing his music, this older model car kind of zoomed by us really close and startled all of us. We all looked up and all screamed at the same time...."OMG.... LOOK!!!! AN ORANGE CAR!!!"