Making friends everywhere

Zoe has really blossomed into a social little girl.
She makes friends everywhere we go.
Tonight we went to Lanesplitter Pizza & Pub. They make a pretty good pie, and surprisingly, welcome kids. This place is pretty cool, and you will see all kinds of folks at the Emeryville location. Nerdy compu-types. Hipsters galore. Rockabillies unite. Hippies. Burners. Young and Old. Arty types. African Americans in their pretty hats and church best. Parents. Yes, us too. There is a great little corner where the wall is painted in chalkboard black, and a bucket of colored chalk welcomes everyone to pull up a mini stool and draw to their hearts content. Wall too chalky? Nowhere to draw? Don't worry, the lovely servers will come over and wipe it clean so you have a fresh wall!
Meanwhile the stereo blasts a little something for everyone. From Blues, to The Stones to Metallica to the Ramones. When Sheena is a Punkrocker came on, Zoe and her little friend were bopping around, holding hands and giggling away.
When the pizza arrived, Zoe wandered over, sat down and continued to wave at her new friend across the room between bites. She said, "She recognized us from the bagel place".
"Really?" I looked over. They looked familiar, but between schools, parks, grocery shopping and a past life in restaurants and bars, heck, half of Oakland looks familiar.
Then I remembered... one morning in the summer, we shared a table with a little girl and her mommy at Noah's on Lakeshore. They were nice, and friendly. That was a couple of months ago, and here they were, with the girls picking right up where they left off. So cute. Zoe manages to find friends everywhere she goes. I hope she takes that with her for a life time.