Many years ago, I was at Chipotle with the person who would become my spouse. This was at the peak of the E. coli outbreak in 2016 when people were purposefully avoiding Chipotle due to the contaminated produce. But for whatever reason, there we were. The line was short.
It was quiet and cold there. The clean, pristine restaurant did not have the attendance of either customer or staff it usually had. The only people there, with the exception of the two of us, were there alone. We ordered, sat down, and ate with a similar silence to the rest of the restaurant guests. My food wasn't very good. I ordered too much again. I overestimated my appetite for their hottest salsa, too. It occurred to me that even on its best days, when there is not an E. coli outbreak, I don't like Chipotle very much.
Although I remember this outing as one of the last times I willingly went to Chipotle, the real reason I remember it is because of the woman with the giant burrito. Chipotle makes huge burritos, but this one was just massive. She ate the entire thing without looking at it. She balanced it perfectly in one hand while she used the other to scroll on her phone. She never lost her grip, she never dropped a bean, and she ate all of it. I will never forget how big that burrito was or how easy she made it look to eat. That woman is an absolute legend to me. There was something almost Lynchian about it. In the background of my life, this tiny woman was eating a giant burrito. It did not matter to anyone, it was not meaningful in any way, but I still saw it happen. It is now part of the canon of my life.
Have you ever seen something totally random and just a little weird that even though it counts for nothing is a memory you always revisit with good humor? Ever seen someone lose an umbrella to the wind and just keep walking? Ever seen someone cry with excitement over meeting a turtle? Do you have a burrito woman in your life?
Edit: For clarity, I did not marry the burrito woman. My wife was merely also audience to her powerful presence.
It was quiet and cold there. The clean, pristine restaurant did not have the attendance of either customer or staff it usually had. The only people there, with the exception of the two of us, were there alone. We ordered, sat down, and ate with a similar silence to the rest of the restaurant guests. My food wasn't very good. I ordered too much again. I overestimated my appetite for their hottest salsa, too. It occurred to me that even on its best days, when there is not an E. coli outbreak, I don't like Chipotle very much.
Although I remember this outing as one of the last times I willingly went to Chipotle, the real reason I remember it is because of the woman with the giant burrito. Chipotle makes huge burritos, but this one was just massive. She ate the entire thing without looking at it. She balanced it perfectly in one hand while she used the other to scroll on her phone. She never lost her grip, she never dropped a bean, and she ate all of it. I will never forget how big that burrito was or how easy she made it look to eat. That woman is an absolute legend to me. There was something almost Lynchian about it. In the background of my life, this tiny woman was eating a giant burrito. It did not matter to anyone, it was not meaningful in any way, but I still saw it happen. It is now part of the canon of my life.
Have you ever seen something totally random and just a little weird that even though it counts for nothing is a memory you always revisit with good humor? Ever seen someone lose an umbrella to the wind and just keep walking? Ever seen someone cry with excitement over meeting a turtle? Do you have a burrito woman in your life?
Edit: For clarity, I did not marry the burrito woman. My wife was merely also audience to her powerful presence.
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