We were having a supper time meeting and it was my job to order the Pizza. Armed with a coupon for bread sticks, and two large, two topping pizzas I made my call. Very quickly, it became obvious that this would not be just any ordering experience. The young man asked – “Do you want hand tossed or thin crust?”

I answered “Thin.”

He asked “What do you want on your hand tossed one?”

“I asked for thin crust” I said.

“Ok, Ok,” he mumbled “What do you want on your thin pizza?”

“Pepperoni and mushrooms” I ordered.

“Then, what do you want on your hand-tossed pizza?” He asked.

“That was a thin crust pizza.” I said.

Again, he asked, “What do you want on your hand tossed one?”

Once more, I said, louder. “I asked for two thin crust pizzas.”

In the background I could hear my customer service care rep ask his manager, “How do I cancel out this order and put in Deep Dish instead?”

“Now,” he said, “What do you want on your first Deep Dish pizza?”

“That was thin crust. I ordered two thin crust pizzas,” I spelled, “T . . . H . . . I . . . N.”

“Oh.” He said, Then asked “And what was it you said you wanted on your first pizza?”

Once more, I gave my Pepperoni and Mushrooms order. He asked for the second pizza. “Canadian bacon and Pineapple” I said.

Going over the order once more for me, he quoted, “That’s pepp ………….and rooms on the 1st and bacon on the 2nd.”

“You said pepperoni and mushrooms on the 1st – right?” I asked.

“Yes” he answered.

“But it’s Canadian bacon and Pineapple on the second,” I reminded him, with an emphasis on Pineapple.

I arranged for delivery at a quarter to seven . . . 6:45 came and went. At 7:15, I called the pizza shop, asking why our pizza was so late.

A different clerk found my order. “We have a hold on that. It’s not supposed to be delivered till 7:45.” After telling her when I asked for it to be delivered, I could hear her give orders to start our pizza cooking. My call ended with an apology, along with a couple of dollars off the pizza.

Just short of 7:45 two boxes of pizza arrived. As I opened the first box, mushrooms smiled up at me. But where was the pepperoni? Warily opening the 2nd, I found bacon on the pizza – it may or may not have been Canadian. There was no pineapple in sight.

You don’t always get what you order in life. Sometimes, instead of pepperoni you get a hearty laugh and the good feeling which comes when you look at life’s little bumps and know that you’re bigger than they. Sometimes, you get to laugh at yourself and wonder why little things have seemed so important. Sometimes, the story is enoug

“A Cheerful heart is good medicine.”  Proverbs 17:22