Brewed Fresh Daily

"Invited to a lunch to meet folks from the business community, I awkwardly stood there, hands in pockets, approached by no one (not even the man who invited me)�until Mark walked up and began a conversation with me." "Mark has a degenerative neural disorder; at times he moves involuntarily and irregularly. At the luncheon he wasn't in a position to be shaking hands and impressing potential business partners. He'd have done that better at the end of a phone line." "I only met one other person that day. That was Bill, whom Mark introduced me to. Bill was stooped. His head was a bit misshapen on one side too, and he talked in almost a whisper. Bill was recovering from the removal of tumors in his brain. That didn't stop him from extending me a warm greeting." "I'm sure the three of us weren't the business community's idea of the Welcome Wagon and its slickest crew. I could tell by the way most people veered in a wide arc around us as we stood talking before lunch. Yet no one could have made a better impression on me. I never went back to another business luncheon, but I did become friends with Mark and Bill."