Me vs. Mo – Eating Chicken Wings

Mo vs Me BBQ Chicken Wings.jpg

I know I don’t talk a lot about how Mo’s doing and what we’ve been up to so I thought it would be good to post something about him. Our relationship has been an experience like nothing else and I feel like even at this point I could write a book about all the things we’ve been through together. Our friendship isn’t what most would consider normal and it’s only through the grace and love of God that we’ve got to where we are today.

Instead of talking about Mo or retelling one of the many stories he’s told me about his life I wanted to give a simple difference between us that I’ve noticed. The one thing Mo loves to do more than anything is eat. The guy can put down some food like I’ve never seen. Even thought that’s interesting in itself the way he eats is what caught my eye.

When Mo eats he doesn’t waste a thing. Most of the time he eats everything on his plate (or plates) and if he has something left he’ll save it for later. A good example of this when we went to a pizza and wings place yesterday to watch the 49ers game. We ordered some BBQ wings and after we had pretty much taken down the entire order Mo looked over at the pile of wings I had eaten and began to scold me for what I apparently had done wrong.

“Look at all that meat on those wings! Are you going to waste all that meat?” he asked me in disgust. I felt like my mom was yelling at me for doing something wrong and didn’t really know what to say back. What I saw was a pile of fully eaten BBQ chicken wings but what Mo saw was something else. I was wasting too much of the delicious, BBQ coated wings and he wasn’t happy with it.

I told Mo he could have them if he really wanted them and before I finished my sentence he already had one of the bones in his mouth finishing it off to his level of satisfaction. There’s no way he was going to let that meat go to waste.

When we left he threw the uneaten wings into a to-go box along with the half dozen or so wings that I had apparently not finished to his liking. He’d be taking care of them later and wasn’t about to let them get thrown away. I know there was a time when Mo wasn’t sure where his next meal was coming from and it seems like he’s still in that mindset even though his circumstances have changed significantly. I guess some habits are hard to break.

 

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2 Comments

  1. sue

    Love your writing, Ryan. Love the voice that speaks so clearly in it, and your humor and your heart. Thanks for posting!

  2. Thank you for sharing that reminder of all we take for granted. It is amazing what we waste here and I a guilty. My chicken wings looks like yours when I eat them.

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