Surprise!  Momville invites an “I can’t believe I’m doing this for my kid” moment.  I thought catching vomit with my bare hands was big.  I thought reliving story problems about two trains going opposite directions showed tenacity. (This example is still around!?!)  On November 2^nd, I showed love and courage.  I went to Taco Bell.

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Alex asked for Doritos Locos Tacos, a dozen to be exact.  His seventh-grade Spanish celebrated the Mexican holiday, Dias de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.  The dead are honored once a year, November 1^st and 2^nd with parties complete with food and drinks.  It’s a happy time despite all the skeletons and bright colors that remind me of “Dead Man’s Party” by Oingo Boingo from 1985, a tribute to said holiday.

Mexican food has come a long way since I lived in Colorado twenty years ago.  And in California, burrito shops are almost as prevalent as Starbucks.  It never occurred to me to go to a fast-food chain when we could eat super fresh and authentic Mexican food at a local shop.  But for my son, I was willing to go where no Low had been for 15 years, the local Taco Bell.

I timed it around the late lunch hour so I could deliver it hot.  What a mom!  I was shocked to find a line and packed tiny tables.  I didn’t plan this into my timetable.  I was sure nobody ate here.

As I waited in line, I couldn’t help but overhear the order ahead of me by a senior couple.  They ordered a Doritos Locos Tacos box lunch, with a diet soda!  I could hardly contain my shock, a small gasp escaped.  Number one, gramps and grams are as hip as a tween-ager.  Second, I haven’t seen such an ironic food combination since my life in the fast lane as a Target cashier.  (Sounds really happening doesn’t it?)  Once in a while a customer purchased a candy bar with a Diet Coke or a package of diet pills and a candy bar, a last hurrah.

Stand-out!

While I waited for my order, I watched the gals make the tacos.  I kept looking at the bright orange taco shells stacked up and ready to be stuffed.   I HAD to take a picture.  I’m sure the workers thought I was a health department official or a “locos” sheltered mom.  Tell me if you don’t think the Day-Glo orange isn’t picture worthy?

I also quickly scanned the menu to see if they still served bean and cheese burritos like when I was in seventh grade.   Can you still get a burrito with a small drink for less than a buck?  Back in the 70s, we LEFT campus for this gourmet lunch and it was legal!  It looks like it’s up to $2.50.   Funny how middle school hot spots haven’t changed, just the hot ticket item.  Now I know why the Lafayette Taco Bell survives.  It’s an 8-minute walk from the school, five minutes if you run. Taco Bell knows where to find their customers.

Luckily, the Taco Bell lived up to its fast food name and I got through pretty quickly.   I took my box of twelve to my car and realized, I won’t get a close-up picture once I drop them at school.  I knew this was blog material so I went back in for another.  The workers remembered me, the huge-order, camera totin’ Taco Bell rookie.  They looked kindly upon me and rushed my order ahead of everyone else since I was just there.  Gracias.

Par-TAY!

In the meantime, my son is texting me madly, wondering when his order was arriving.  By car, I’m three minutes away.  I could make it in time.  I still had to walk it across campus.  I now know how to get middle-school kids to follow a grown-up.  I had a lot of offers for my tacos along the way.  Alex met me twenty feet from the classroom.  He was ready to grab the box and run.  “Wait, can I get a picture of the box?”  Alex sets the box down.  As I’m taking a picture, a kid walks into my lens, asking for help for his friend whose hand was stuck in a grate.  GEEZ!  Am I the only adult around?  I talk to him through my lens, “I’ll be right there.”  He’s panicking.  “Aren’t you going to help him?”  I finished my blog work and rushed over.  By then, the kid wriggled his hand out, still grasping the candy tempting him to stick his hand down there in the first place.  Alex is getting impatient.

Can you spot the tie?

“Can I see the altar?” I ask.  Part of honoring the dead is placing an article on a small shrine to represent the person.  Alex showed me into the class and I took another picture.  He honored my dad, his grandpa, with one of his ties.  My dad had hundreds and the boys picked out a few for keepsakes.  I took a picture of that too.

“Ok Mom.  You need to leave.  This is getting embarrassing.” So….middle school.

Food should not require sunglasses to eat it.

I left for home. I needed to do my market research.  Do Doritos Locos Tacos taste good?  Yep.  I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.  They are messy and don’t hold up well.  And just like the chip, your fingers turn orange.  My insides were probably orange too, setting things a-glow so my stomach knows its neighbors by sight now and vice versa.  “Hello Liver? What’s shakin?”  “Not much.  Is this what it’s like to soak up the sun?”

Alex and I both survived.  I half expected an “Horas de Los Muertos,” Hour of the Dead, but we survived.   And I survived my trip to Taco Bell.  We glowed with happiness.