Grilling Baby!

I find acts of kindness moving, the things when someone does something just because they want to with no expectations of anything in return. They help to formulate my thoughts on humanity, to give a different perspective on the human spirit.


As many of you know, my family has been living in an apartment for almost a year. Because we are on the second floor, we are unable to grill, which is something I love to do, on a side note, most men love grilling. I wonder if it has something to do with our primordial roots.

My neighbor directly below me grills at least four days a week, all year long. But it was shortly after I moved there that really impacted me. Each Sunday morning, my screen door to my balcony open, the smell of a fall morning filling my apartment, anticipating a Vikings game and Ron would already be out there grilling. The first few times I would call out to him, “Whatcha grilling today Ron?” You see, Ron is THE master griller. He would answer back “oh today I have a few porterhouse steaks” or “I’m smoking some beef ribs.” Dammit!

After about the first month of Ron grilling all the time, I stopped asking what he was cooking as I was jealous. I was jealous of Ron’s awesome looking charcoal grill with the smoker attachment, I was jealous that I couldn’t grill. It felt like a carrot was being dangled in front of a donkey (yes I am that jack ass). I came to hate that grill for making me the fool, for teasing me, taunting me with the sweet aroma of wood chips. When I looked down at the grill, it almost smiles and winks at me, sitting there all prim and proper like an antique train locomotive.

I had visions of dressing up as a spy and sneaking outside at night with my tools and manually taking it apart, “ha-ha grill take that” I would say as I scaled the wall back to my second floor balcony apartment. But I never did as Ron and his wife Lori have always been nice to my family.

I was talking with Lori one afternoon and informed her that we had purchased a house and that when we move I plan on buying a grill just like Ron’s. I was asking her about how to smoke food as I’ve never done anything like that.

Fast forward a few weeks to Father’s day weekend. My wife is talking to Ron and Lori and they inform Jody that Lori purchased another grill for Ron and was wondering if I might like his old one (and this grill is far from old). I of course say a million thank you’s as I wheeled it into our garage. Funny thing, I don’t hate that grill anymore and even though I won’t be able to use it until August, it is my new best friend. After everyone goes to bed, I sneak down to the garage to tuck it in, make sure it is happy give it a nice hug (hugs are an easy way to show those who are important to us how much we love them). If my grill has been extra good, I might even read it a story. Where the Wild Things Are is his favorite…”And now”, cried Max, “Let the Wild Rumpus Start.”

So a million thank you’s to Ron and Lori, for their extreme act of kindness, for recharging my belief in the kindness of people.