Pho real!

My daughter and I had lunch at our favorite pho restaurant yesterday. The servers know us well, and by now we are so predictable in our menu choices that ordering is almost by rote: "Spring rolls and P-15 with extra noodles, and spring rolls and V-1."

Part of our pho ritual is to pick fortune cookies from the jar next to the cash register when paying for lunch, and to compare fortunes before we get in the car.

The past few months have been a period of growth for my daughter, for me, and for our relationship. We have both negotiated some profound changes ... not always easy ones ... and there have been times when we've both had nearly simultaneous insights that have almost seemed to be sent to us from a higher plane.

When my daughter opened her fortune cookie, she said, "Hey, I have two in mine!"

She read the first:



We both nodded, knowingly, and I said something like, "Wow, that's right on the money!"

She read the second:



We both felt the hair on our necks start to stand up. "Gosh, that one is really right, too," she said. "Open yours ... it's going to tell you what you need to do."

I tore open the cellophane wrapper of my fortune cookie and cracked open the cookie. Both of us read it at the same time:



So now, I know what I need to do! This is the fortune cookie equivalent of the zen phrase, "Chop wood, carry water." Or at least, that's how I am going to interpret it ... once I stop laughing.

P.S. The photo at top is not our favorite pho palace, but it might be if they open one in our town!