Ping and The Bartender

I met an interesting person today. I have been traveling across the state of Wisconsin with my manager, Steve, and colleague, BJ. I picked them up in Madison, drove a couple of hours north to a meeting, and then began our 3+ hours drive back down to Milwaukee. Along the way we decided to see if we could stop at a brewery or two.

We tried, "Point" Brewery in Stevens Point, but it was closed. Steve looked on his GPS and saw the name of another that was supposedly 13 miles up the road, but we could not find it. So we decided to just try a bar. The one with the best name was called "The Rat Pack." It was located in Waupaca, WI, a town of about 5,000. When we walked in, it was like the scene from a movie, when three people who obviously do not belong, enter the bar and anyone who is inside, stops what they are doing. There were a total of five people in the bar when we got there, including the bartender. There was a couple at either end, each engrossed in their own conversation. Everyone looked at us and knew we were "not from around here." The bartender greeted us, and made it a point to express what everyone was thinking.

Once we got past the fact that we were indeed from out of town, things settled down. We became new meat for the bartender/owner. Everyone in town probably knew his story. We didn't.

We each ordered a beer, and he began asking questions about our business. He noticed that Steve was wearing cuff links and said, "I haven't seen cuff links since I was a kid." The man is probably in his late 50's. Then the real conversation began. The man had worked at a paper mill for 25 years and decided to just quit. He then worked at a VA Hospital for eight years as the maintenance man. One day, he decided to turn on his computer. He had never used the Internet before, but he heard you could get information out of it. He went to Yahoo Personals because he thought you could, "buy a lawnmower and stuff on it." Much to his surprise, he didn't find lawnmowers.

Since he didn't like any of the women he saw on Yahoo, he wanted to find other sites. "You see," he said, "once you are on the Internet, and you put stuff in it you like, you can find all kinds of similar sites." He stumbled upon Match.com. Within a short period of time, he tells us, he finds this nice Chinese woman. He kept wondering why a woman who was, "so good looking" needed to be on this site. He didn't join the site, but was able to send a short message to the woman. It turns out that the woman did not sign up for the site, but her friend did on her behalf. The friend began communicating with the man, and eventually the good looking Chinese woman connects with him. Within a short period of time, they began to realize they both had similar interests, wanted to get married, and seemed to be falling in love.

The man took his web cam, and installed it in all of the rooms in his house so she could see it. He eventually went to China to meet her, and four days later they married.

This Sunday will be their 4th anniversary. She'd do anything for him, and anything he tells her to, he said. They opened up the bar two years ago, and she still owns a house in China. Her name is Ping. We never got his name.

We learned all of this just after we met Ping. Halfway through our beer, Ping came into the bar area, and offered us each a free gift. She put a tray of silver rings on the bar for us to inspect. Each of us were encouraged to take a ring, which were made in her hometown in China. I didn't really want one--they mostly had skulls and/or snakes on them--but I thought it might be rude not to accept. Ping also told her husband to offer us a complimentary shot of Apple Pie, which was some type of liquor they made.

I don't know, to me, they seemed happy. While her English was broken, she was able to carry on an engaging conversation. I watched how they interacted with each other and with us. They were friendly people, in the later stages of their lives, who want to entertain others, and love one another. They made me think about my relationship with Cyndi

I've told people over and over that I knew Cyndi and I were going to get married the first night we went out. We grew up 1/4 mile away from each other, went to the same grammar, junior, and high schools, and both went into health care after college. Cyndi moved in with me two weeks after we began dating, and we've been together ever since. This past July was 14 years we have been together, and next month we have been married 13.

Sometimes you just know. I met an interesting person today, who told me a lot about his life. I didn't get his name, but I do know that if he didn't turn on his computer, and go to the Internet to find a lawnmower, our lives may have never crossed paths.