Before putting pen to paper, some writers light a candle and spend a few moments in quiet reflection before they pour their souls onto the blank page.
Me, I'm sitting here wearing a paper hat from Chick-fil-A and thinking happy thoughts about the chicken sandwich I wolfed down at Hernando County's very own Chick-fil-A restaurant, which opened last week.
It looks like you enjoyed Chick-fil-A's arrival, too, seeing as how most of you dropped by while I was there. The crowd at the cash registers looked like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, what with people shouting orders and all. The line at the drive-up window was so long I thought a funeral procession had taken a wrong turn.
Chick-fil-A gave away balloons and free paper hats to kids - and adults who threatened to make a real ugly scene. The Chick-fil-A cow circulated in the dining room, giving out hugs to anyone willing to embrace a cow that can stand on its hind legs.
As a county, it was as if we all came together and sang Kumbaya. It was beautiful.
Chick-fil-A area marketing director Jane Melton asked me to participate in the grand opening. She assured me the invitation was extended because I am solely responsible for the store's arrival - having asked for it in a column last December - and not because of any shameless hope that I might give the store more free publicity.
Have I mentioned how great Chick-fil-A is?
I hoped they might name the store after me, or at least a Dumpster out back. But I was upstaged by a couple of dozen knuckleheads who spent the night waiting out in the freezing cold just to be among the first 100 people in the door Thursday morning. For warmth, they brought mittens and blankets and girlfriends. One guy said he slept in the mulch - all for a book of coupons good for one Chick-fil-A meal per week for an entire year.
We have established how fond I am of Chick-fil-A. But I wouldn't spend the night in 28-degree weather for a year's worth of meals at Bern's Steak House. You people are disturbed.
Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A and son of the company's founder, seemed proud of the bizarre behavior.
"There's folks that like (us) a whole lot more than you do," he said.
For a big-time corporate type, Dan Cathy doesn't put on any airs. He goes to 40 or 50 of these openings a year. And there he was out in the cold at 6:30 a.m.
Cathy gave the crowd a message that you don't often hear from a business tycoon. And, without prompting, he repeated it to me later in the warm light of day.
"We're here to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A," he said, quoting the company's mission statement.
Sitting in a booth in the new store, Cathy pointed to a black-and-white photo on the wall. It shows him and his brother at the opening of one of their father's early restaurants nearly 40 years ago. His father, Truett Cathy, had led a prayer right before it was snapped.
On Monday night, during final preparations, the staff at the new Hernando store said a prayer, too.
"We've not changed our story," Cathy said. And then he quoted a biblical proverb by chapter and verse: "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths."
One way that Chick-fil-A acknowledges God is by closing its doors on Sundays so workers can go to church or just stay home with their families and rest. It sponsors foster homes. Its kids' meals typically include character-building books. And Chick-fil-A is hugely profitable.
Again, Cathy says, "God has blessed this business."
John R. Mitten, the local owner-operator of the store, has similar convictions. He says the company doesn't require its employees to be Christians - that would be illegal. But it seeks honesty, integrity and a servant's heart from each applicant, he said.
"We look for characteristics and qualifications that are most typically found in believers," he said.
Chick-fil-A's arrival in Hernando County will satisfy our longing for chicken sandwiches, waffle fries and fresh-squeezed lemonade. But it is clear Chick-fil-A wants its influence to be felt far beyond the walls of its dining room.
- Robert King can be reached at 352 848-1432. Send e-mail to rking@sptimes.com
