Grace is simple elegance, refinement of movement, a kind of kindness and patience. Grace has great meaning in Christianity as a religious concept, but when I think of Grace, I often think of Kelly, our friend and the bartender and  waitress several  nights a week at the “Bog” also known as the Foggy Notions restaurant

Some people think of the Bog as a biker bar, and avoid it,  sometimes there are rows of bikes parked outside. I avoided the Bog for the first decade or so that I lived here, Maria and I started going last year. The Bog reminds me not to listen to the judgements of other people, or pay much attention to conventional wisdom.

We love the Bog, we come there often, it is quite friendly, we have never felt anything but welcome and at ease there, the hamburgers are quite fine, the portions generous, the price inexpensive, the service filled with grace. I don’t drink much, but the bar is often full, the customers seem loyal and happy.

At the center of the place on some nights is Kelly, she has a master’s degree in economics, worked for some years for the State Assembly in Albany. She tends bar and waits tables, a seemingly overwhelming and intense job sometimes, she is in constant motion, serving drinks, taking orders, making change, asking everyone if everything is OK. She has an astonishing memory, once you ask for a drink, she brings it automatically and without being asked, and forever,  unless you ask for something else.

She keeps the orders in her head, and is almost never still. She is a strong woman, she faces my camera with directness and confidence, there is no preening or fussing about the camera.

Kelly, as some of you know, has what I consider one of the warmest and most genuine smiles I ever see, it is joy to take her photo, and I loved this one, taken of her headquarters in the middle of the bar. Kelly is gracious and elegant, she smiles, is unfailingly patient and courteous, she never succumbs to the irritations and pressures of a rough and demanding job.

Sometimes, it seems she is taking care of scores and scores of people, all of them are well cared for. I do not really know how she does it. Lesser people would fray. Every person feels welcomed, noticed, attended to.

So Kelly personifies grace to me, and I wished her the happiest of New Years and thank her for letting me take her picture. You never asked me why I do, Kelly, but the answer is simple. You are a person of grace.

. Are you planning a great year?, I asked her tonight.

“Absolutely,” she said, smiling.