The Same Again

A common ice breaker question that I’ve been asked quite a few times is, “If you had to eat the same meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?” The question in and of itself is ridiculous and unrealistic, because any meal, no matter how much you love it, would eventually get old. But what if we relegated the question to only a week? That’s a much more manageable timeframe. Most people would still get sick of the same thing every day for a week, but I think that we can all agree that we could endure it for that short amount of time.

Back in the summer of 1989, my family took a vacation to Washington DC. The trip was crammed full of historical landmarks and museums. The White House, the Smithsonian, Monticello, Martha’s Vineyard, Ford’s Theater, the Lincoln Memorial…all the usual suspects. But what I remember most about that vacation was the food court in the subway.

Every day we’d stop for lunch at the food court, and every day I’d ask for the same thing. No matter how hard my dad tried to convince me to explore something new, I only wanted a cheeseburger with mayonnaise. For ten straight days, that’s what I ate. And for ten straight days, I was in heaven. I didn’t tire of it. In fact, my yearning for it grew stronger every day. I started to look forward to it. It was the highlight of my day. Surrounded by all of this history, and the highlight was a mediocre cheeseburger on the subway.

So, I know the answer to the question of what I’d eat every day for a week. I lived it, and after all these years, my answer is still the same. Although, now I’ve also added pickles to give it some zing!