Lunch with a Brother

Wednesday (day before yesterday) I had a lunch date with a Brother. No, not my blood brother Patrick, even tho' he now lives here in San Antonio. This Brother is a fellow Lambda Chi Alpha brother. He's Christopher "Chip" Haass.

Until June of this year "Chip" had been my Councilman, representing S.A.'s District Ten on the City Council. But that's over-and-done now. Indeed, one reason I wanted to get together with him was to learn what he's doing these days, now that he's no longer on the Council.

We did lunch at Jim's - Jim's #1 on Broadway at Loop 410. When Brother "Chip" was a newly-elected Council member back in A.D. 2003, I was working at that Jim's as a sometimes waiter and sometimes cashier. I was doing cashier duty during one lunch-time, when "Chip" stepped up to the cash register to pay his lunch bill. I recognized him as one of the rather impressive young new members of the Council, and I congratulated him on his election to the body. Since I had first met him there it had occurred to me for us to do lunch at the same place. Not to mention that Jim's has long been one of my favorite places to eat in the Alamo City, going back to my residency in Devine.

I was rather surprised to learn that Bro. "Chip" had been to Mexico City since leaving the Council, as a private citizen at Mexico's invitation. Turns out that he had been heavily involved in getting San Antonio to take a stand on the current "hot-button" issue of immigration. Apparently he hadn't been able to go south during his service on the Council -- he described it as a very busy and demanding post -- and so he had gone afterward. He also let me know that he will be starting law school this fall, at the excellent School of Law at St. Mary's University here.

We also chatted about experiences at our mutual institutions: Texas Christian University, where I studied in the late 1970s for a Master of Divinity in the seminary (to qualify to be an Army chaplain) and he much more recently studied for a bachelor's in education, and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Turns out that "Chip" hadn't associated with the brotherhood until after his freshman year, but was so impressed with the demeanor of the TCU brothers and the teachings of LCA that he knew it was the fraternity for him. Later he served as High Delta of the Zeta (chapter)at TCU. I myself had served as High Kappa (fraternity educator) and High Phi (ritualist) at the Idaho Zeta.

Let me tell you, dear reader, that I had ordered one of my three favorite burgers on the Jim's menu -- which is much more varied than just burgers -- the "Golden Mushroom" burger. But I was so focused on conversation with Bro. "Chip" that I basically just ate the burger without savoring it! Indeed, it was such a pleasure to converse with Bro. "Chip" that I hated for the lunch hour to end. But he had things to do and I had to go home and get ready to get to work at closing shift at Fiesta Texas. So we gave a hearty handshake and said farewells with blessings. But I shall not soon forget this terrific lunch-time date with a beloved brother of our beloved fraternity!