[Jimbaux eats simple fare for the simple man.]
Last time, I mentioned how hearing songs from a certain album made me think of a certain time and place. In that case, the album was Minutes To Midnight by Linkin Park, and the place and time was Pittsburg, Kansas, and environs in the summer of 2007 and, to a lesser degree, the summer of 2008.
However, in a Facebook chat with an old friend from New York who now lives in California but whom I met when I lived in Mexico in the summer of 2004 (yeah, that one’s a little hard to follow), the subject of Subway restaurants arose, and I suddenly had the urge to eat at one! Here’s the rub: I hadn’t eaten at Subway since late 2010 in Louisiana, meaning I hadn’t eaten at Subway since I left Louisiana. I’m not totally sure why this is true, given the quantity of fast-food I still, unfortunately, eat.
Ode to Ralphie
Just before I left my teaching assignment near New Orleans in December, some students gave me some nice parting gifts. One was Ralphie, who gave me a $10 gift card to Subway. I taught kids who were mostly from low-income families; so, any such gesture was quite nice!
There’s A Story Behind This
See, not far from the school, right along some an active railroad, was a Subway restaurant, and I’d frequently get food from there, as the students would witness. Yeah, of course I went there because it was by the track!
Keepin’ It Real
My work on Monday took me to Washington Union Station, and since I was going there with a newfound urge to eat at Subway (which is appropriate, since the underground Metro goes there), I took the gift card, thinking there had to be a Subway there, and what better place to use this card than at a place associated with railroads!
Just Like Old Times
I felt like my old, happy, foamy self as I made my order of a “Subway Melt” with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, banana peppers, onions, and extra mayonaise, just like I did it so often long ago!
Yeah, I was using the clicker camera that Bernie loaned me back in April.
I think that some level of shame about my old actions, habits, and routines may have been a subconscious motivator in avoiding Subway for the last few months, but in the last few weeks, I’ve had reason to not be as ashamed of some of my old routines, to truly accept some of them, actually, and even embrace some of them.
That doesn’t mean that I’ll be splurging in Subway now, but once every week or 10 days will do me no harm, and I’m really missing the Subway by the track back in NOLA!
There you go. There are three pictures from my Subway experience at Union Station on Monday. Nothing special, but I am thankful to Ralph and many of my former students, many of whom I keep in contact.
Thanks for the meal, Ralph! I enjoyed it.
More To Come
I’ll post some more pictures I took at Union Station on Monday in the near future. Stay tuned for those!
Jimbaux
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t fear those old routines, habits, and experiences. Most of life is making the best out of what you have to work with at the time, and we all(or most of us) go through many of those same passages. What you have done and experienced in the past has brought you to where you are today, and made you what you are. Every experience has benefit if you can reflect and learn.
BTW, I always get a kick out of going to Subway, for a somewhat odd reason. I grew up in NY, and when I stand in line, I look at the maps on the wall(I wish they’d bring back the bolder maps, not the watermark type paper they use now) and think about all the lines there I rode when I was in high school.
Jimbaux,
You are finding your way and it sounds like you are having a great time doing it. Don’t be reluctant to use your past to better your future. Missing you in NOLA.
Wow, Jimbaux, I never saw so many people at the subway we frequented as I see in your pics. Hmmm, I might have to swing by the old place when I return from a working vacation in TX.
Keep snapping, keep rapping, keep writing!
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