PORT TOWNSEND — When Carrie Pierce entered the Union Street Grill in Seattle, she didn’t know that a chance encounter would lead to an opportunity to touch the lives of children halfway around the world. But she’s not surprised that it did.
“When I am working, I tell myself I am keeping an divine appointment today, no matter what I’m doing,” Pierce said.
Pierce, who works for a cosmetic company, was in Seattle for a trade show in November when she and a friend made reservations for dinner at the Union Street Grill. Arriving at the crowded restaurant 20 minutes late, they managed to get a table, where they overheard the waiter make a remark about Iraq to the people seated next to them. During the course of the evening, Pierce and her friend exchanged a few comments with the party, two men with a pregnant woman.
“There was something about them,” Pierce said. “They had so much dignity. I was drawn to them.”
When Pierce got up to leave, she stopped at the table, and, apologizing for her curiosity, asked if they would mind telling her why they were talking about Iraq.
“The men looked at each other for a moment, then one of them said, ‘Yes, ma’m. We’re being deployed tomorrow and we’ll be gone at least 18 months,”‘ Pierce said.
“I was so moved. I shook their hands, and told them, “I can’t thank you enough.”
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The rest of the story appears in Monday’s Peninsula Daily News.
