Lunch at the China Garden

I ate at the China Garden today. It’s an all-you-can-eat, sprawling Chinese restaurant in Aberdeen, N.C., located almost where Hwy. 15-501 intersects Hwy. 1. That area is a traffic hub in southern Moore County, where natives and relocated folk drive, shop, and eat together in peace, for the most part. 

When I head to China Garden, I often think of “Garden Party,” a song popularized by the late Rick Nelson. The first words of that tune go like this:

“Went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends / A chance to share old memories and play our songs again / When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name / No one recognized me, I didn't look the same / (chorus) But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well. / You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself.”

When I hum “Garden Party,” I change those two words (“garden party”) to “China Garden.” Thus, I sing, “I went to the China Garden to reminisce with my old friends.”

Today, I did exactly that.

I motored to China Garden to dine and talk with two friends I worked with at the former Gulistan Carpet that manufactured carpet in Aberdeen.

Diane (that’s the name I’ll call her) and Dan (that’s what I’ll call him) were working at Gulistan when I arrived there in April 1989. We worked together until Gulistan closed in 2013. That’s a long time to be around each other in a small product development department. We got along pretty well.

I’m 70. Diane and Dan are in their fifties. They had to find other things to do after the company folded. Me? I retired. I was within two months of being 66 when Gulistan went, as they say, belly-up. Gulistan means “garden of roses” in Armenian. Gulistan didn’t get “nipped in the bud,” but it got nipped after it had bloomed and faded a bit. Around 400 people “walked” when “the bloom was off the rose.”  

We enjoyed lunch. The China Garden is spacious, and the music is soothingly Chinese. We talked about folk we used to work with. Some found other jobs. Some moved. Some died.

“Have you heard from _____ or _______,” Diane asked, referring to supervisors we worked for. 

“Who’s that?” I quipped, and then answered, “No.” 

We all smiled, enjoying the camaraderie that forms among lower-echelon “associates.”     

We chatted about our respective relatives and their ups and downs and health problems. We shared some of our own challenges.

During our last years at Gulistan, only five people worked in our office. We had to coordinate closely in order to design carpets and move them into production modes. The manufacturing group sometimes referred to our product development group as “problem development.” They seemingly wanted to “run” established products and not encounter challenges presented by introducing new styles.

Four of our five folk in Product Development, during the last few years our company “hung on,” were guys. (Diane was our office administrator.) We guys usually took breaks together. During watermelon season, we’d buy melons and cut them into slices we loved to eat during afternoon breaks. Two of our five fellow workers died not long after their Gulistan employment ended. Dan and I attended both funerals; we rode together to each service.

Diane, Dan, and I grew pretty close over all those years we worked alongside each other. We spent nearly two hours at lunch today. I enjoyed every minute we lingered at the China Garden.