Dear Diary,
Yesterday I was working so hard that I forgot to take lunch at my usual lunch hour. Since I was working from home, I decided to go out and eat out.
McDonalds lingered in my brain ever since my hubby made mention of it a few days ago, so I decided… why not.
So I sat there at the fast food joint, having put in my order in from their life-size iPad application and had my “meal” delivered to me.
I rarely do McDonalds. I used to love it as a child when it first popped into my world of consciousness. It was like going to Disneyland. Today, going to McDonalds has a different connotation – fast, cheap and unhealthy.
As I sat there with my Quarter Pounder in hand and a french fry in the other… I felt a nostalgia and even joy as I ate every bite of my meal. It made me think of the first time I was at the counter as a child, looking at the new menus and best of all… shoe string fries.
What was nice about it was, I didn’t have to wait in line to put in the order. All I had to do was quickly select the things I wanted from the console, pay for it and sit back and waited for it to be delivered to me. I’m not saying this is the first time I’ve ever experienced it, I’ve done it before. But it was when I had my meal in front of me that it occurred to me that just that simple process alone – removing the stress of waiting in line and then having to wait for your meal in a bag – made the overall experience that much better.
Who knew?
Of course, the place was jam packed with teenagers who were out from school, screaming and giggling and shouting all around, mixed with a small cluster of senior citizens and some laborers who were stopping by for a quick meal. Hardly the place to call “comfortable dining experience”.
Sounds silly, I know. Why am I being appreciative over cheap fast food? I think it was just that I was being aware and in the present, aware that I was fortunate enough to go scratch my itch when I wanted and be truly satisfied that I accomplished my mission.
Then to further make things even more interesting, I ended up being engaged in an informal chat with an elderly lady sitting next to me, who told me a lot about her experiences in the Catholic school, working at the polling stations, working as a support representative for some health organization… We were having a real conversation, not just her sharing her pet stories with me.
Of course in the meantime, all sorts of things were blowing up on my phone on the work side – I could see texts flying back and forth over some mishap that happened over some business we were working on… but I took my time getting to it.
To be able to appreciate the small things in life, was what made yesterday’s sit down at McD’s that much more interesting and unexpectedly fun. I recommend changing up your routine sometime, even with the most banal of things. You’ll be surprised what you can find there.
Toodles,
Little Reiko and (I want some more fries) Turkey
Little Reiko's Diary 