USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
Foreshadowing.
The shadow of downtown KC casts on to high level clouds above the K. One of the coolest pictures I think I’ve gotten lucky enough to take at the K. Especially with where we will be moving to. So cool.
Kyle Isbel's impact on tonight's win, as described by Hall of Famer Denny Matthews:
• Diving catch in the top of the 8th
• Running catch to end the top of the 8th
• RBI single in the bottom of the 8th
• Game-winning hit in the 9th
#RoyalsRadioRewind
I don’t have the words to explain how much I loved Boy Meets World
Mr. Feeny legitimately felt like a teacher of mine & this final scene was perfect