Something happened yesterday that nearly brought me to tears.
If you've been following the posts, you know I've been on a father-son trip this past week. It was the second to last day when this happened.
We arrived at our new campsite, the "Desert Dome," around 2pm. It sat on a farm very far out from civilization.
The only nearby residences were trailer park homes.
After my workout and hanging out around the property, we thought about dinner.
I looked on the map. We would have to drive about 45 minutes to get to anywhere that had even close to a regular grocery store, let alone a half decent restaurant.
It was around sunset. We weren't looking to drive another hour plus.
So my dad suggested we just go into the adjacent town. Chaparral.
I looked it up on the map. Trailer park homes.
There were four restaurants in the whole town. All rated two stars. There was also a grocery store that looked like it was about to fall down.
On Apple Maps, the restaurants didn't even have websites, reviews, or photos of the food. As if no one ever showed up there.
Normally when I choose a place to go eat, I look at the reviews on Yelp or Apple Maps and make a judgment.
But I looked at this and said, "Dad… hate to say it but… doesn't look too promising."
Without hesitation, he said, "Come on, let's go."
So we jumped in the car.
I was really in a negative, low mood about it.
I kept telling my dad, "Dad, I'm telling you, there's NOTHING here. We're not going to find anything that's actually quality or good."
And my dad said to me: "If that's the attitude you have, that's what you'll get."
I said, "…I don't think so."
Now, keep in mind, I'm very into goal setting, affirmations, and all that.
Even still, I didn't think that doing ‘positive thinking’ right now was going to amount to anything under the circumstance.
I mean, we were heading into a trailer park town. Why would there be anything of quality?
What, was an Erewhon just gonna pop out of nowhere?
But we kept driving.
So we pulled out of our desert dome, took a right, and started going even more into the open desert.
Almost immediately, I looked out the window and saw these beautiful orchards.
I didn't know if they were olives or apples. But they were stunning.
Just after the orchards, we came across a flock of sheep. They were prancing around.
And the sun was just tipping over the horizon.
Everything had a golden flare.
All of a sudden, to our left, more expansive land and crops.
A beautiful farmhouse.
It felt like we were transported into something like Napa Valley.
I was awe-struck.
But it was only for a moment.
This strip of the drive was between our campsite and the trailer park town.
So even though this slice of heaven had unfolded before us, I still wasn't optimistic about our dining options for the night.
We continued driving and found the first little taco place we had seen on the map.
It was closed. On a Tuesday at dinner time. Ghost town.
We drove a little bit further and saw this place called Delichio's.
It had a bunch of cars in the lot in front of it.
"Well, it looks open...” We said, “Maybe?"“
We pulled in. Got out of the car. Walked in the door.
It felt like a vortex opened.
We walked into this little Mexican restaurant with a very authentic, of course Mexican family running it. There were hand-painted murals on the walls. Old music playing, probably 50s or 60s Mexican music. Soothing.
A young Mexican woman with a bright, warm smile greeted us at the counter to take our order.
To my surprise, the menu looked fantastic.
We placed our order.
There were little business cards on the table.
One of them said, "I love Jesus."
I turned it over. The sinner's prayer. And a few Bible reference quotes about love.
I looked at this restaurant, then pulled it up on my phone to see if it had any mention or reviews I had missed. I was taken aback by how beautiful the energy was in there.
On Apple Maps, it showed this place as a food truck.
Not a restaurant.
Which told me everything. This family started with a food truck. Worked it for who knows how long. Built their way up to this full restaurant.
I looked up.
I saw the mother, possibly the grandmother, in the back cooking.
The father taking care of some inventory in the back.
Then this little girl walked into the scene. She looked to be the youngest daughter.
I realized this was a family living their dream.
And here I was, moments before, shitting on this whole trailer park town.
Only to be nailed in the chest, choked up, unexpectedly, by this beautiful little family.
They were rich in the wealth of love for each other. And they were living their dream.
I felt that this little Mexican restaurant before me towered over the material wealth of any billionaire.
As we waited for our food, I went outside.
I looked at the sun setting over the desert mountains. Fields expanding as far as the eye could see.
I thought of the message my dad had given me about the whole point of this trip. The whole point of life:
To find beauty in places you would never expect.
You just have to turn toward it.
- Arlin
