Open for Lunch
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"Something" has led me to ask perfect strangers, especially persons who don't appear to be me like me, to have lunch with me when I'm out alone and grabbing a bite to eat. This "something" has driven me to seek lunch mates for over 12 years and continues to this day.
Just last week an invited diner, a man named *Andrew, and I found heart-felt connection over fried chicken and coleslaw at KFC. We ended up talking for three hours. You may ask what that "something" is that drives me to turn to a stranger and say "Would you like to eat together?" Why do I do this? How do these impromptu meals turn out? The honest, amazing personal stories I have heard over a sub sandwich or a hamburger and fries have moved me, informed me about who I am and what drives my behavior. My risky outreach has filled my plate with a deeper love and understanding of humanity, and of myself. OPEN FOR LUNCH, my second book, is nearing completion and weaves my collected lunch encounters with my own story into an unusual memoir. Andrew, my new friend, has given me permission to tell his/our story in weekly excerpts starting in May so that you can get a taste of OPEN FOR LUNCH, due out from Pisgah Press in fall of 2018. Hungry? Let's do lunch! *Andrew is a pseudonym |
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Robin Russell Gaiser, MA, CMP, holds degrees in English literature and psychology and a certificate in therapeutic music. Her previous book, MUSICAL MORPHINE: Transforming Pain One Note at a Time, was
a 2017 finalist in American Book Fest’s Best Book Awards. Gaiser is a regular presenter before book clubs, bookstores, and professional groups, including her March 2018 TEDx Talk, “Good Vibrations: Less Drugs, More Music.” She has performed widely and recorded numerous CDs, and she provides live vocal and instrumental music to the chronically ill and those in the last stages of life. She and her husband live in Asheville, NC. |