I like Burger King better than McDonald's because the kids' chicken is actual chicken. It's because of this reason that we found ourselves at a Burger King in San Diego at 9pm on a Sunday night. It was in San Diego, on our way back from Yuma, AZ that Ellie was having a hard time in her car seat and my bladder was feeling fit to burst. Everyone in the car was also starving so we stopped at the King.
Brandon got a whopper (hold the mustard), Ellie got the chicken strips kid meal (with extra bbq sauce) and I got a chicken sandwich. The cashier let Ellie have one of the paper crowns as I paid and we all stood around waiting for our order. Actually Ellie, ran around. Our order was finally called and we sat down by a window to eat.
Burger King kids' meals come with a crown already so Ellie found herself with two crowns and decided that Brandon (have I mentioned she calls him Brandon?) was to have the spare. He could be the lesser prince to her queen. The queen settled, we finally dug in.
A song with a catchy tune started to play and Ellie started to wiggle around in her seat.
"Oh, are you dancing Ellie?" Brandon asked.
Ellie nodded her head.
"Can Papi dance too?" asked Brandon as he started to do what he calls the Muppet dance.
"Do the Muppet, do the Muppet, now the Motorcycle, oh yeah..."
"No Brandon! Like this," instructed Ellie as she wiggled from side to side like a washing machine.
"Oh, sorry, like this," responded Brandon as he too wiggled from side to side.
Ellie giggled as she saw her dad copy her,"Look Momma!"
And then a funny thing happened.
It was like everything around me slowed down and I was able to see, really see, what was going on around me. It was dark outside and the window I was facing, instead of showing me the outside of the restaurant, was reflecting the fact that we were sitting in an empty Burger King. Brandon wearing a crown three sizes too small was sitting across from Ellie who was also wearing a crown- hers two sizes too big - dancing to a silly beat. Ellie was smiling with the unspoiled joy only children know and Brandon was grinning at her with nothing but love in his eyes. The grueling car ride through the dessert was forgotten. The fact that Ellie had just been whining up a storm was gone. We were all tired. I looked and felt like hell. But in those brief seconds that felt like hours none of that mattered, or even existed.
Suddenly I started to tear up.
"What's wrong?" asked Brandon gently.
"Nothing," I said, "This moment is just perfect. That's all."
