Late Night Tacos

Taco Cabana//
Around 3 am. Aluminum wrappers and used napkins strewn across the table.

Our friend mentions his constipation during a summer mission trip
(Loud enough to catch the ear of a passing waiter who bursts into laughter)
We all sat giggling around the table like young teenagers
In swoops the waiter who asks how our meal was before offering to take our trays.
He asks expecting an answer, not the kind prompted by employee obligation.

He has a genuine smile.
One that seems to hide a secret joy inside and one that can't be contained.
(and I was right...it can't be)
He asks about the mission trip.
We respond (not knowing we were a part of his mission).

Jesus.
He lights up.
Oh Jesus. He saved my life.
He makes a fist and gently taps his chest
He is so real. He is so good.
Praise Jesus.

Silence.
His testimony. Five sentences.
So real. So genuine.
A waiter at Taco Cabana.
Witnessing Jesus at 3 am.

It's funny. I just wanted to sit there.
And listen to him more.

HUGS

The students at my elementary school are expected to abide by strict hallway procedures,
one of them ironically being "HUGS"

As soon as a teacher says, "Get in HUGS," the kids wrap their arms tightly across their little chests, face forward, and shuffle their two feet into a floor tile and quietly proceed behind their peers.

As an outsider, I've found it quite amusing to watch this take place
every time I enter the building to pull a student out for assessments.

On Friday, I pull two students from their classes.
One first grade boy whose constant smile gives away his missing two front teeth.
One first grade girl with a deep set of dimples and a long braid secured by plastic flower barrettes.
Both are shy but clearly excited to roam the halls with me.

I put on a stern face and whisper, "Give me HUGS," with a clear visual in my head of what was to ensue.

Except before I know it, these two come forward with arms outstretched and hug my legs.

I substitute two words
and strict disciplinarian
becomes teacher who needs some lovin.

These little ones sure know how to melt someone's heart on a chilly Friday afternoon.

Mementos: Tribe Pride

Driving to have dinner with some friends.
I stop at the red light.
A tan car pulls up beside me and honks.
Confused, I look over.
Young man excitedly motions me to roll down my windows.
Confused, I do.

"TRIBE PRIDE!" he yells as he fist-pounds me mid-air
I laugh, returning the gesture, realizing he saw the bumper sticker
"What year?!" I yell across the passenger side.
"DINWIDDIE 2004!"
"FAUQUIER 2012!"
"Ooohh~Fauuuuuuquier"
"Looks like we both got stuck in Botetourt!"
"TRIBE PRIDE!"
Grinning, we both drive away

Feeling more at home in this dry desert tonight.
Refreshed to know that this stranger
understands the grassy field I once frolicked across
with memories linked to mine.

Two souls meet at a stoplight.
Yes, indeed.
Tribe pride.

Sometimes

Forty-Seven Minutes

Nick Flynn, 1960

Years later I’m standing before a roomful of young writers in a high school in Texas. I’ve asked them to locate an image in a poem we’d just read—their heads at this moment are bowed to the page. After some back & forth about the grass & a styrofoam cup, a girl raises her hand & asks, Does it matter? I smile—it is as if the universe balanced on those three words & we’ve landed in the unanswerable. I have to admit that no, it doesn’t, not really, matter, if rain is an image or rain is an idea or rain is a sound in our heads. But, I whisper, leaning in close, to get through the next forty-seven minutes we might have to pretend it does.

Mementos

Saturday afternoon /
mom's chopping veggies /
i ask her opinion on a playlist for my cousin

me: how about this?
plays song on iTunes
mom listens intently
mom: ...hrm I like that "car race" song
me: ....you mean "chasing cars"?
mom: ... ^^;

Grandpa Moments

Oh how I will miss..

• setting up the table under his watch, making sure he gets "the right" spoon and chopsticks
• spending 2 hours going over our family tree as he scribbles in unfamiliar names on the back of a ripped calendar
• waiting as he smooths out the top of his head while carefully slipping on his stylish hat
• saluting the opening elevator doors with a "standby....execute!"
• watching him put on his best outfit before heading out to comfort a fellow marine comrade 
• smiling as he prayed a blessing on my aunt's head on her 50th birthday
• nodding in agreement as he looks into my eyes and firmly states, "we have two ears but one mouth because God wants us to listen more and speak less!"
• sorting and eating vitamins with my faithful healthy old man
• listening to him tell stories of my grandma and the beautiful lady she was

Mementos

...that time I flagrantly disobeyed mother's orders.

Sorry momma, I couldn't resist.

Travel Tip #4: When in the Eastern coast of Korea, splurge on raw fish. The sooner you eat it the better. This one was alive just 10 min ago. Feeling like a ruthless carnivore today.