Toppers

One year ago today, Amber’s Grandpa Bob passed away. Amber loved her Grandpa and still misses him a lot. He used to take her to Toppers restaurant in Longview from time to time, where he would get his cup of coffee and she would get her hot chocolate with whipped cream. They would talk about life, and they did this from an early age. Bob would do his best to instill wisdom into the young Amber by playing jokes on her or sharing his life experiences. One of Amber’s favorite stories is of when Grandpa Bob had her convinced that he wasn’t paying for her food and that, since Amber was only a 6-year-old (ish) with no money, she was going to have to wash the dishes. He played it well and had her so convinced that she had to go call someone to bring money.

Another time they went to Toppers, Amber’s Grandpa told her that he knew where every single one of his pens were. He was a meticulous man. This impacted Amber and she too desired to be that meticulous, although I personally have not seen the fruits of that desire yet. In fact, after we visited Grandpa Bob’s gravesite today with the Evald family, Amber proceeded to leave her keys and cell phone in the grass next to the head stone. Luckily, Amber’s aunt visited the gravesite shortly after and retrieved the misplaced items. Clearly Amber has no idea where all of her pens are.

Anyway, to commemorate the passing of Grandpa Bob, Amber and I had lunch at Toppers today. As we walked in, this is what the sign said:

Now, I understand that it was because Father’s Day was just a few days ago, but it still was special to Amber (and her mom, to whom I sent the picture immediately). Aside from the sentiment of the restaurant, I had mixed feelings about the place. We stood at the front counter for a couple minutes as one of the employees counted change into the register, waiting for her to acknowledge us. She did not, so we decided to seat ourselves. Unimpressed. Upon doing so, I ordered a cup of coffee and got Amber her hot chocolate. A screaming kid was running around (and I mean SCREAMING) until one of the old ladies working there yelled at him to quit running. This I actually DID find impressive. I was glad that she did it, but also sad that the child’s mother didn’t feel the need to parent. I guess the old saying is correct: when you don’t want to discipline your child for being an idiot, let the waitress do it. You’ve heard that saying before, right?

The rest of our time at Toppers was uninteresting. The coffee was bad, the food was okay, and the company was great. It’s your typical family-owned, local restaurant that serves diner food, has older folks working the place, has older folks dining there, plays Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon and Coldplay over the speakers, and parents the lazy people’s children. It was a nice time.