Diary entry from a Saturday afternoon in downtown Savannah;

I’d just wrapped lunch with a friend just off of Broughton Street in Downtown Savannah. I hadn’t taken my car down that way on a Saturday because, frankly, it would be just as easy to take CATs Dot Trolley back to within a short walk of my home. For those that don’t know, the DOT trolley regularly offers shuttle service Southbound on Whitaker Street all the way to Victory Drive and then up Drayton Street to Johnson Square until 7pm every day. It offers perfect access to the heart of downtown without worrying about parking.

And it’s free. But I digress.

I’m standing at the corner of Whitaker and Broughton Streets waiting on the trolley. Across the way, I spy a group of young ladies. Clearly a group gathered for a bridal party or bachelorette group. If you cruise downtown with any regularity, we see them all of the time. No biggie.

In that group, I see a young lady in a pale blue dress. Long and flowing, made from very light material. She was clearly wearing it because it was north of 90 degrees on this day and was looking for something to keep her cool.

I thought the dress was beautiful. Just an innocent observation from across the street. She wore it perfectly. It was like something out of a model shoot. So impressed I was with the dress that if that group of roughly 9-12 had crossed the street my way, I may have been compelled to offer her the compliment. The reality is, though, I likely would not have said a word simply because I was standing on the sidewalk alone. Total creeper alert, though my intentions were sincere and pure.

Alas, they all walked into Paris Market. Of course they did.

A couple of minutes later, the trolley arrives. I step on and walk to the back for a seat. Across from me is a toddler enjoying the bumps of the ride and a woman I believed to be her mom sitting next to her making sure said toddler didn’t go swinging into the walk way on a particularly rough bump in the ride.

Mom now is the one staring. At me. I offer a smile.

Not 20 seconds later, the lady leans in and says (in the most beautiful British accent) “Excuse me, I don’t mean to disturb you, but are you the Eating man?” (I’ll admit, that label was a first).

“Yes, I am. how are you?”

She says “I thought so. I just wanted to tell you that you were a major reason why my mother and I chose to move her many years ago.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.” I said.

“We were looking for a place to move and we visited Savannah. We just loved everything about downtown. We ended up purchasing tickets to one of your presenting events.” she says. “It was at one of the hotels. The Drayton….no, The Mansion!”

I said “oh yes, The Foodie Awards, we used to have them there.” I said.

“Yes, The Foodie Awards! We attended and thought the entire evening was wonderful and magical. We decided we wanted to be a part of something like that, so we moved here.”

I was speechless. I honestly didn’t know what to say beyond offering sincere thanks. But I did ask “How long ago was that?”

“10 years ago” she said. “My mother and I moved here. I since moved away for 5, but I am back now.”

Given that she was riding the DOT trolley, I asked “are you here downtown?” She said “We are over on 37th street. We live near Common Thread.”

As she offered that, she stood and grabbed her child. Her stop at Forsyth Park was coming up. We were on the trolley together for probably a grand total of 3-5 minutes.

“I just wanted to share that with you. We love everything you do for the food scene here. Sorry to have bothered you.” I wished her a good day and she stepped off.

Please forgive me for saying so, but I spent the next handful of minutes in the Twilight Zone. My stop was next, so I had to pay attention so as to not miss it. I did not.

As that trolley drove away, I spent a minute absorbing what had just happened on that bus. I realize that I am blessed enough to be complimented on the work we do with Eat It and Like It fairly regularly. Both here online and on television. I never take any of it lightly. I am appreciative of all the love I get from this community that I reciprocally love so much. That’s Savannah to Bluffton to Hilton Head and beyond.

But to have a young lady take a chance moment to tell me that she and her mom made a life changing choice to move here from San Diego in large part because of something I’ve built with a little help from my friends, is a compliment I will never ever forget.

Quite obviously it’s a far cry from “Good call on the fried shrimp food guy!”

Far cry, yes, but it all matters. It’s all very touching. It validates the hard work, long days and sometimes sleepless nights that come with running a small business in the place I call home.

Given the circumstances all over again, I probably still wouldn’t have said a word to the girl in the blue dress. But it should never be lost on us how far the tiniest compliment can go if we take a moment to share it.

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