Pizza and fried chicken

A couple of Friday nights ago I needed to work late, which meant I had to eat late. Brenda was not feeling well. as she was fighting off a cold, and so I offered to pick up dinner. She didn’t really want anything, so I was on my own. I decided I was going to order a pizza. And so that’s what I did. I called Domino’s and I ordered a thin crust, large pepperoni with extra sauce for $7.99. After I placed the order, I had about 20 to 25 minutes for it to be ready for me to pick it up, and so I decide I am going to do some grocery shopping.

Back when I used to spend some time at Carolina Children’s Home, the chef who worked the dining hall made some serious fried chicken. And then, all of a sudden, it just disappeared off the menu. So, I talked to him about it and he said that whatever overarching, accrediting agency or health agency or whatever said that fried chicken was not healthy and that they could not make that anymore in the dining hall. To which I responded, “I thought fried chicken was one of the four basic food groups.”

So after that, there were years before I had fried chicken again. But then I rediscovered fried chicken one time when I was grocery shopping in a Publix. Now I have mentioned before that I am a dangerous grocery shopper. That particular night was no different. I happened to be going by with my cart and saw the fried chicken and I decided I was going to get some… and I have been corrupted ever since.

So while I am waiting for my pizza to pick up, I go grocery shopping at Publix. It was the closest grocery store to where the Domino’s was. As I am scurrying around with my cart, what do I see that they have on the racks?… fried chicken. So I grabbed some of the fried chicken… plus I grabbed some other things that I had actually planned to get… and then some other things that I did not go in there to get. That’s just all part of the experience.

Now that I have my groceries plus the fried chicken, I go back for the pizza. It is pouring rain… and I am talking pouring rain. Thankfully I had my big golf umbrella (that doesn’t work very well) in the car… so I was able to snag the pizza without getting totally drenched.

There I am… back in my car… with the hot pizza… on a rainy night.  I got the pizza and I got the groceries and I got the fried chicken.

While I am riding home, I am eating the pizza for my dinner in the car (because pizza is best when you first get it).

I pull into our driveway. It is still raining. After polishing off about half the pizza,  I am thinking to myself, “You know, something like fried chicken is really the best when you first get it.” That was enough thinking for me. I decide I am going to eat two chicken legs while I am sitting in our driveway.

So, I had a whole buffet that night in the dark… riding in the car eating pepperoni pizza, and then sitting in the dark in my driveway eating fried chicken. And I thought, “You know, it really doesn’t get any better than this.”

So as you go through each day, look for those little joys and celebrate each one.