I was eight years old when my grandmother, the kind soul that she is, took me through the drive-thru that would change my life.
I remember the day fondly; most would call it a desirable, if not pleasant fall day. But I could not be bothered to notice, for I had been stuck behind a wall of grief. It had only been the previous week, you see, that my gerbil Gertrude had run away from home, at least according to my parents. I would find out later that Gertrude had in fact died from self-inflicted shock during a sneeze (!)
On that day, I experienced my first of many great tragedies that anyone who lives is surely to appreciate. It was that familiar moment in which reality became all too evident to me, the perceiver. Only after the great tragedies of life do we find what life really is. I was utterly shocked and frankly confounded by this newfound revelation that life may not be so easy as I previously thought, and I was not in any mood to appreciate anything on this fall day in question.
That was all destined to change though, once I walked through the doors of my local Taco Bell.
The first bite was that of a burrito supreme. To fully detail the euphoria of this bite would be nearly impossible, at least for an inexperienced writer such as myself. Suffice it to say that at this moment, I experienced something entirely unknown to my mindset just ten minutes prior. In a flash, I became reconciled in the realization that for every one of those moments in which you doubt the credibility of living, there are equally as many that take away that doubt entirely.
That is what Taco Bell was for me in that moment, what it has been for me since then, and will continue to be. It is a symbol of balance in life, a symbol of peace.
A promise that good things are just around the corner. And now, my "Ode to Taco Bell"
When work is through,
When the play is over,
When the day is done,
I always come back to you
For every story must have an end,
Every road must lead to a destination,
And every man must soon realize,
Where home actually is
It all ends with you, Taco Bell
With you I am,
my muse
In a tunnel of pain, I persist
For you are my light
You are my hope,
You are my purpose
In a life full of cataclysmic catastrophes,
You are my peace
You give me back a piece
Of my own soul
When I bite into you
I am filled up with your spicy grace
Crunch wrap, gordita, nacho fries alike
You, my heart’s delight
The day upon which we met
Was the day in which I first wept,
A tear of joy.
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