Memory Burgers

I confess to finding myself a little bit ridiculous.

Last night I really wanted a hamburger. It was unseasonably warm so I lit the gas grill. Unfortunately it was also very windy and the wind kept blowing out the flame. The burgers had to be finished in a frying pan.

I wanted to eat both burgers but showed some restraint in just the one. In thinking about breakfast this morning, I couldn’t think about anything besides that second burger.

As I bit into the burger, a memory half a century old came to mind.

I went home from church with a lady named Goldie. I couldn’t have been more than seven or eight. It was kind of scary to a little girl, but I spent the night with Goldie. The next morning she asked me what I wanted for breakfast before I walked myself across the street to go home.

I wanted a burger. More than half a century later I still remember the smell of that burger cooking and the taste of it on two pieces of white bread with ketchup. It had to be the coolest thing in the world to be allowed a burger for breakfast.

Ha! It’s still pretty cool. I’m relishing every single bite.