Compliments

Compliments are cheap but they are sometimes more of a polite thing than a heart felt thing. "Good job" is not the same as a detailed, specific or enthusiastic compliment. Anyhow, I got a good one last night and it is still giving me a little smile.

Typically when I fire up the oven, I deliver pizzas to the neighbors across the street. One family gets a cheese, the other gets a half pepperoni (Dad likes pepperoni, kids like cheese). It's good practice. Two more pizzas I get to make but don't have to eat. I blew off work yesterday with the plan for the day to make pizza in the oven. The weather was supposed to be decent and the temperature was supposed to get to 40. Perfect. Toppings are easy when the outside temperature is basically refrigerator temp. The dough is easier to mange too. And in a rare occurrence, I was actually happy with the quality of the pizza I was pulling out of the oven. Figures, because I didn't take any pictures of the finished pizzas.

Last time at the cheese family, I was invited in and was talking with the parents while the daughter ate a slice of pizza. She interrupted the conversation to say in a serious, matter of fact way, "You make really good pizza, Mr. Jon." It was a very sweet compliment that still makes me smile.

Yesterday's pizza delivery was almost stealthy. It had to have been very quiet. They have two dogs and I didn't see or hear either of them.When I got to the door, I could see the mom on the phone right there. Instead of ringing the bell, I just tapped on the glass. She saw me (and the pizza box), opened the door smiled/thanked me. We exchanged "Happy Friday" greetings and I left. As I was walking down the driveway I could hear their daughter excitedly screaming, "Mr. Jon brought pizza! Mr. Jon brought pizza!" That was nice. I said she's a sweet kid, right? Then I got a few more steps down the driveway and the front door re-opened. A face I had never seen before appeared, a guest I suppose, shouted, "You're the best neighbor ever!!!"

I waved back and that compliment definitely made me smile. Then I walked back to the oven and made a half pepperoni for my other neighbor.

UPDATE to the original post: I wrote this in the morning and figured I'd read it again later. Wasn't sure I was going to post it at all. Feels a little too much yay me. After writing it, I took the dog for a walk and saw my neighbor. I had actually met the unknown face about a year ago. It was Grandma. Our dogs were born around the same time and played as puppies. She had heard the stories about a guy that just shows up with a pizza at random times and was very excited that she got to try it.

I also posted that I spent most of my Friday focused on pizza and got this funny reply from Chef Ric Orlando.