I love people, seeing new sights, just traveling in general.

A few years back, I was helping out a very good friend of mine who was a manager at a Holiday Inn. She was in quite a predicament, she had a big inspection coming up to see if they could keep their franchise.

After a couple months of really intense work and cleaning everything except the bathrooms, (I drew the line at that) the inspection day arrived and with all the scrutiny and tests that they came up with, it was finally over and she passed with flying colors.

She was so thrilled she asked me, “What can I do for you to make up for all this?”

Of course, I told her it wasn't necessary, that we were friends and I was very happy to help.

When she asked if she could send me on vacation, no way could I say no to that, so I just asked, “Where am I going?”

Naturally, I almost fell out of my chair when she suggested San Francisco, the city by the bay.

She explained all about how she would tell them that I was an employee of the Holiday Inn and that I would be treated like royalty.

There was no words to explain how excited and thrilled I was, so after arranging everything, I bought my ticket and flew to San Francisco.

The Holiday Inn that I was to stay at was actually located in Oakland, just across the Golden Gate Bridge, and it was explained to me that just a half a block from the hotel was the Metro system that would take me into the heart of San Francisco.

That night, after I had a great dinner at the hotel, I decided to go into the bar for a little while. Everyone was so nice, especially since they thought I was an employee of the Holiday Inn. I was surprised to find the bartenders won't except your money if you're a visiting employee. I can only hope that everyone that visited it felt the same as I did and gave the bartender a tip that would cover all the wonderful service that I had received while sitting there.

This very nice looking gentlemen was sitting there talking to everyone and heard me say that I was going to the city.

He enthusiastically asked if I would like to ride over with him as he would be taking the Metro over in the morning.

I informed him that I truly hadn't made up my mind exactly when I would be going, nor did I know how long I would be staying, I thanked him just the same.

Some time later, he got up to go to the restroom, the bartender told me that Tom came three or four times a year on business for his firm and always asked the bartenders, waitresses and folks visiting the hotel if they wanted to go along with him, as he loved the city but didn't like to visit by himself. He is truly harmless. The bartender thought I would enjoy the trip better if I was with someone. I thanked him and said that was good to know.

Shortly upon his arrival back at the bar, I turned to him and said, “Tom, if the offer is still open, I would love to ride in with you tomorrow.”

“Awesome,” he stated, “Meet me in the restaurant around 6:30, we'll have a great breakfast and walk across the street to catch the Metro.”

Wasn't long after that, I decided I'd best get upstairs, in the shower and turn in, 6:30 AM is not my best hour. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches, and I thought this was going to be one of those times.

Bright and early, I was dressed and headed for breakfast. It was very pleasant, Tom was telling me some of the sights I would just have to see since I had never been there before.

We just about walked our legs off, but what a great city, the fabulous and famous Golden Gate Bridge is actually very red, a truly awesome site. Fisherman's Wharf had everything from peanuts to any type of clothing, jewelry, tours and entertainment that you can think of. I think I liked the silver mime best, he was painted from head to toe.

We went in a restaurant that had a car (rather a half of a car) coming out of the wall. Of course I had to take pictures, how many times would you see something like that?

Tom took plenty of pictures, I took tons of pictures and total strangers wanted to take pictures of Tom and me, of course. I'm sure they believed that we were there together, maybe even honeymooning. I'm not real sure that my husband would've thought that funny, but I sure did.

As the day came to a close I was kind of sad, as it had been a wonderful day and very uncommon for that area as it didn't rain.

As we were headed back in the direction of the Metro, Tom said to me, “Cheryl, I know a wonderful French restaurant here, why don't we have dinner there before we have to turn into pumpkins?”

I thought it was a wonderful idea, and the perfect close to a perfect day.

As we enjoyed our wine, and were waiting for the meal to be served, we started talking about families and what we did for a living. It was just a nice conversation.

I asked, “Where do you live?”

He stated that he lived in New Orleans.

I know a stunned look came on my face as I commented, “It is truly a very small world.”

“What makes you say that?” he chuckled.

I told him that my husband and all of his family came from New Orleans, and that most of them were still there. At this point I asked, "So where do you work in New Orleans?”

At Avondale shipyards, he explained.

I am laughing now, because the world seemed like it had just closed in. I told him all about how my brother-in-law had worked in the shipyards for some 40 years and of course proceeded to ask him if he knew Tommy Adam?

He concentrated on that for a bit and then said no, but that it was a very large place. “So in what area does your brother-in-law work?”

I explained that he was an electrical engineer and draftsman.

“No way," he almost yelled, “Wait, is his name P.T. Adam?”

That's him, so you do know him.

“I don't just know him,” he said with a look of horror on his face, “He is my boss.”

It is very hard for you to learn something that funny in the middle of a very nice restaurant and you have to act like you have some manners. I wanted to roll on the floor laughing. I told him, “You have to do me a favor, when you have all of your pictures developed, place them in an envelope and casually toss them on Tommy's desk and say, "Check out the blonde I met on my last trip.”

His reply was that he wasn't really interested in losing his job.

I assured him that my brother-in-law knew me very well and that he would absolutely wet his pants laughing. “You have to do this, because you're not going to believe how funny Tommy will think this is, honest.”

It must have been about six months later, and my brother-in-law called and I happened to remember about Tom and San Francisco. I asked him, “By the way, did Tom show you his pictures from his last trip?”

After a moment he said “First of all, I think I would like to know when and how you met Tom?”

So, I confessed up and told him the whole story. As I suspected, he thought it was hilarious.

He later told me, that he went straight to Tom's office, asked him about his trip and did he meet any interesting people while there?

After a little bit of stuttering, Tom said, “I guess Cheryl told you that I met her and showed her the city while we were both there.”

Tommy responded, “Let me see those pictures.”

If this story has a moral I'm guessing it would be, don't ever do anything that you're ashamed of because you never know when the person beside you might be your neighbor or work with your family...