A Chinese Chicken Gryo / Shawarma
Me: Why didn’t you answer you phone?!!
Mom: I didn’t hear it ring!
Me: For over an hour!?
My sister was inspired by our trip to Taiwan, so she took her kids there for Spring Break.
So, when she rang me, I assumed that it was to tell me something fun.
Instead, it was to tell me that her husband hadn’t heard from my mom in a few hours.
Without giving too much detail away, essentially, my mom forgot where she parked her car and decided to take an outrageously long walk home(ish).
With the help of my brother-in-law – thank goodness he was home – she made it home and found her car but not until hours later.
Out of an abundance of caution, and because I always, always, always regret not seeing Alison and my dad every chance I could, I woke up bright and early the next day to see her.
Because it was so early, I took the same route I took to return home to Queens from high school – it had been years since I’d taken that route home.
It was faster than I remembered.
Maybe it was because I had my laptop and could do work, and that made the commute a lot faster.
I remember that my dad would sometimes be waiting in the car at the subway station for me.
I looked at the place he would usually park for reasons I can’t explain.
Dunno why I do things like that.
Stupid, really.
But in some reality, he’s still alive and he’s waiting for me.
I digress…
Me: I’m just worried about you.
Her: What’s there to worry about? I forgot where I parked my car is all. It’s not that big a deal.
Me: I dunno, mom.
Her: It’s fine, it’s fine. Did you eat yet? Lemme make you something to eat.
Me: It’s ok, I’m not hungry.
That last part was true.
Literally, the only time I’m ever not hungry is when I’m worried. And I was worried about my mom.
Didn’t stay long. It took me 90 minutes to get to her, but I only stayed for 45 mins because I had so much to do.
Just wanted to see and hug her.
If you can see and hug your mom, you absolutely should.
Since I was in Queens, I remembered that I saw this Instagram short about this dude in Flushing Queens selling this 2000-year-old Chinese gyro / shawarma thingy – and you know what a sucker I am for those things – and I decided to get one before I headed back home.
Essentially, I saw that she seemed like herself and my hunger came roaring back.
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So, I went there, waited in a short line, and ordered one.
$6. Chicken with a ton of cumin.
The bread was like a cross between a crossiont and phylo sheet. It was pretty delicious, I gotta say.
Realized, as I ate it at noon or so, that it was the very first thing I’d eaten all day – it was my first bite of food in 18 hours.
When Alison and my dad got sick, I dropped down to 140 pounds. I was skin and bones.
I know that I should spend as much time with my mom while I can.
Just don’t wanna think about things like that.
So, I think about stupid things like 2,000 year old Chinese gyros and push all that doubt to the side of my mouth.
Location: the gym, trying to impress this hot blonde
Mood: meditative
Music: we brave beestings and all (Spotify)
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