There is nothing better than good fast food.

Okay okay.  I know.  It’s not good for you, and we should all examine our eating habits and think about the extremes to which we consume foods that are damaging our personal health as well as our health system.  It’s noted in Bob Johansen’s (of the Institute for the Future) book Get There Early that the world now has as many overweight people as underfed people.

So we moderate.  Okay.

So we will go once in a while to a local fast food restaurant not just for the quick service of happily (are they *really* happy?  maybe so, given this economy) employed teens, but also for the quality of the burgers, frozen custard and fries that Andy’s provides.

Jack at work

Oh, and Jack works there.

Jack works behind the counter, wearing the company colors, with the guys in charge of cooking and preparing the food.  Jack is my son.

And I’m flipping out.

Is it just me (rhetorical, thanks) or have the years spun by like a tilt-a-whirl or the scrambler?  At times, those rides made you feel giddy, sick, afraid, or elated.  Sometimes they go really quickly and you wonder what happened, and at other times you actually wish you could mind-control the operator into stopping the damned thing.

I’m flipping out (mildly, don’t worry) because I stepped off the tilt-a-whirl and my boys have grown into young men.  I’m sure many of you will have heard similar remarks or are living these same feelings.  I find myself saying “I have two boys”, still thinking of them with their backpacks-bigger-than-themselves and period lunch pails (think TNMT).

Now I have a young man flipping burgers at the best fast food place in town, entering his senior year of high school.  And I have another young man who is a college student, figuring out what it means to be an adult, pursue a specialty, and plan his own future.

They won’t read this blog, so I’ll tell you; I love them both.  I’ll tell them when I see them, or sooner when I text them.  And if you’re ever in Mebane with a hankerin’ for old-time fast food with cheerful, quick service – go to Andy’s.

And say hi to Jack, if you see him.

Ref.  Get There Early, Bob Johansen, Institute for the Future, 2007