My day started out on an off note, as I slept in to a ridiculously late hour -- something I'm not at all accustomed to doing -- so running in the morning just wasn't possible. I dropped Shelby off at school, raced home, and immediately began the usual writing, email-checking, and conference calling...I looked up at the clock at one point, and realized it was 12:30 PM, and that I'd not eaten breakfast, let alone lunch. Now those of you that know me understand that this isn't all that unusual, since I rarely am moved to eat breakfast before 11 am, but yesterday was different -- I was suddenly famished. No sooner than I had acknowledged my hunger, my husband burst through the door (as is his way at lunchtime, since he works less than two miles from our house) and yelled "What's for lunch?!" Normally this behavior annoys me, because he seems only to do this when I have my boss on the phone, or a potential client for my business, but yesterday I was pleased -- someone had arrived to make me lunch! But, unfortunately, the healthy lunch I envisioned him making me was not to be. Instead, he said "If we leave RIGHT NOW, we can have lunch out, so get your shoes on!" What fun!! An impromptu lunch in the middle of the day with a person I love deeply, but rarely spend time with alone! Until.....
We jumped in the car, and headed to the gas station/convenience store that is about a half of a mile from our house, which...you guessed it....has a tiny restaurant in the back called "Miller's Too." I can't explain the name, and I can't explain why anyone would want to eat lunch at a gas station, but there we were. Now Husband had eaten there before, and the place was rather busy, so I took a deep breath and entered with high (ok, not very high) hopes. Turns out though, the visit to this restaurant was the highlight of my week! And for those of you wondering, this story does have a "running end" to it, if you're still with me at that point....
The place was small -- maybe eight booths and two tables -- and a girl who looked about 20 and a two-year-old that I assumed to be her child was set up at one of the tables, obviously keeping the toddler occupied while playing the role of waitress. We walked through the door, and the little girl looked at my husband and yelled "Hi Greg! Hi Greg! Hi Greg!" The child's mother looked at my husband and said...."Sorry....she thinks you're my dad....her grandfather...." Of course, being the kind-hearted wife that I am, I immediately began laughing hysterically! My husband, on the other hand, was less than pleased....he muttered "thanks..." (as in, "thanks for nothing...." or "thanks for reminding me I'm not 20 anymore, " or even "thanks for pointing out my slightly gray hair...")....I continued to laugh....and then I laughed some more....
We moved on to the actual lunch (yes, I was still laughing), and as I assessed my options, I realized that it was either "cheeseburger" or "fried chicken" so I went with the cheeseburger and fries. I ate every bite....and it was delicious! As I was scarfing down, my neighbor showed up and added significantly to the experience (I'd finally taken a break from laughing, so as not to choke) by a conversation about his ability to live through a dog attack, how we'd stop a stalker, and what people in our neighborhood he felt were "weird." Given this guy's past (he served our government for many years in a rather "underground" sort of way if you know what I mean?), I enjoyed his stories immensely and secretly was thankful that this guy was on our side....as in, with the wrong set of circumstances, the guy may have turned out.....quite differently... But since the clock was ticking, we left....I was stuffed. My hair and shirt smelled like a smoke-laden cheeseburger....and I had a run to attend to...
Ed dropped me off and, surprisingly, my new bikini had arrived and was waiting on the doorstep during our absence. I cringed. I almost cried. But I was brave and put that tiny little thing on anyway. I liked it, and wasn't nearly as horrified as I thought I would be, but cheeseburger or no cheeseburger, the bikini reminded me that running wasn't optional. So off to the gym.... Given the fact that I smelled greasy and felt like I'd eaten a brick, I didn't run far, and in fact had to stop and walk at one point because my stomach hurt, but I was there. I even did a few sets on the cybex stuff in order to further counteract the "cheeseburger effect..." and after, I felt pretty good for having eaten a thousand calories of crap. I even tried the bikini on again for Ed when he got home. He thought it covered up too much....
2 comments:
That was a great post. I can identify with your lunch date, my wife and I rarely get to do that so whenever I take a vacation day during the school week or take a day off for school visitation day we always have a lunch date followed by a Starbucks date.
I love that you ate that whole cheeseburger. Eat when you're hungry and you're fine. When you have cheeseburgers so rarely that you notice how great they are you know you you're eating well.
Your neighbor sounds like Dale Gribble from King of the Hill!
Yep...ate the whole darn thing...and loved every bite. I think it's good to do this every so often because I really LIKE cheeseburgers, and I'm also reminded of how bad it feels to eat too much greasy food at the same time!
About the neighbor -- I'm thinking Dale Gribble meets Rambo...meets James Bond without the suits... :-)
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