burritolly challenged

On Valentine's Day I argued with a complete stranger about burritos. Stressed much? Me? What, with getting ready for a cross country move (14 days from now!), husband wrapping up more auditions, Primary President stuff, teaching lessons, and practicing for my final gig in NC? nah...

It was a gorgeous day, so gorgeous, I wished I was wearing flip flops. Elliott and his buddy Eli were playing in the sand. (Sidenote--ALL North Carolina parks have enormous sand boxes. I found this bizarre when I moved here.) I was pushing Lily in a baby swing. I noticed the man pushing his son next to me was wearing a tshirt with a man on a motorcycle with a backwards F on it.

Me: Is that shirt from Freebirds, the Texas burrito place?
Guy: Yes, it is. I got it at the one in that town where Texas A&M is at.
Me: College Station.
Guy: Yeah, that's it.
Me: There sure are some good burritos to be had in Texas. Can't get 'em like it here. That place, Moe's Southwest Grill up the street, pales in comparison. I can't believe they call themselves a 'grill' when they don't even grill their meat! It's all stewed.
Guy: I like Moe's. My son likes it too. We go there every week. I have seen them put the meat on a grill. And they have ground beef if you don't like their grilled meat.

awkward silence. then screaming. coming from the sand box.

Elliott: There's sand in my eyes! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Then ensued the biggest meltdown I've ever heard regarding sand in the eyes. He wouldn't even open his eyes. I guided him, like a blind person, to the bathrooms, scooping Lily out of the swing on the way, where misinformed-about-burritos-guy had assumed the role of pushing her in the swing. I don't want a guy who is confused about meat preparations and grilling and burrito tastiness pushing my daughter. Poor Eli got left to fend for his own in the windy sand box. To Elliott's credit, the screaming-so-loud-I was-sure-a-bone-was-broken was merited. When he finally did open his eyes, about 5 minutes into the episode, there was still about a 1/4 tsp. of sand in each eye. Yikes! He wouldn't stop screaming, so we had to go home. I had to guide my temporarily blind son back to the sand box to tell Eli it was time to go. Then Lily didn't want to leave, she wanted to swing. I had to carry her, against her stubborn will, and guide my blind Elliott all the way back to car. Eli carried the sand toys. Of course I was parked way down by the soccer fields so it took us awhile and then when we were finally near the car, I forgot to tell Elliott we were taking a step down off the sidewalk to the parking lot and he fell down onto his shins. Poor guy. I'm not a very good guide.

By the time Elliott and Eli finished arguing about who was sitting where, Elliott's eyes were better....until about 7pm that night...he had a follow-up-sand-in-the-eyes-freakout. The only thing I could think of was he was laid on his back and put his feet up and some sand fell out of his shoes.

But anyway, I promise from this point on to let each man have his own burrito opinion, however flawed it may be, without trying to make a point that it's better in TX. Because if you haven't figured that out for yourself, then I just can't help you. And if you're not lucky enough to eat in Texas on occasion, look for a Qdoba. ;) But if you know me well, you'll know my personal fave burritos are at Mission Burrito in Houston.