School lunch program

Yesterday, I had class. Operations Management in the morning and Business Strategy in the afternoon. For OpMan we took a plant tour of Penford Products, courtesy of Lonny G. It was pretty interesting. 10+ years ago I used to deliver to that plant when I worked at Fastenal. Anyway, it was 1030 when the tour got over. About half the class decided we would go to lunch at the local Mexican diner. When we got there at 1045 we found that they didn't open until 1130. We knew we were early but didn't want to go anywhere else. Looking around the back, I found the owner, his wife and daughter were there getting ready for the days business. I told him that there were a dozen people out front who wanted to snack on chips and drink and would rather not drive away. He quickly agreed to open and soon we were seated at a group of tables pushed together, eating chips and drinking 'ritas.
These are people that I have been going to school with for the last 18 months and with a couple of exceptions, I hadn't really talked to any of them. Soon we were talking about our families, where we worked before, why we were in school. One couple, taking their classes together, were celebrating their five year anniversary that day. He grumbled that they were spending it in school. Someone mentioned that they had celebrated their 40th birthday by working all day and taking their final exam last September. I had celebrated my 40th by taking two midterms the year before. Another classmate related a tale of her anniversary last fall where, after a long day of classes, when she got home her husband swept her off to the casino for a night of entertainment. Though she was very tired she had a good time. Michelle stated that her spouse was QUITE ready for her to be done with school. We all heartily agreed. All of us and our spouses are ready for us to be done with school.
In that two hour lunch, I laughed 'til I cried, got to know some really good people and a bit of their backgrounds, talked about Wife and Kat, talked about marriage and money and children, and just had a really good time. While I am ready to be done with school, I am glad that I have gone through with it. I REALLY appreciate the Rock for picking up the tuition. All in all, I wish every school lunch could have been that fun.