I miss Chick-Fil-A.
November 11th, 2006I haven’t lived in a city with Chick-Fil-A access since 1988. I miss it desperately.
I have lots of memories of going shopping at the mall with my mother when I was a kid in Atlanta. We always had lunch at Chick-Fil-A together. It was kind of our thing. I would get the combo that came in a box, with the waffle fries and the cole slaw. I remember one time in about 1980 when we were there over the school Christmas break. I was about ten years old, and had just had surgery on my ears and I had crazy huge bandages wrapped around my head. I was self-conscious about going out in public but braved the mall anyway. Some woman in the Chick-Fil-A restroom took one look at me in horror asked what had happened to me. I was mortified.
That is a weird phenomenon that I experienced again at the age of 31 when I had hip replacement surgery, and was on crutches for many weeks. Total strangers kept asking me what had happened. And inevitably when I said I had a hip replacement, they would say “Oh, you’re so young! What happened?”. I found it odd. And I wanted to say…none of your business. I know they were just trying to be nice, but people, take my word on this: If you see someone with crazy bandages, or on crutches, etc, the odds are that whatever they went through probably wasn’t fun for them, and perhaps they don’t want to relive it again and again with total strangers. Using crutches is not the equivalent of someone wearing his Senor Frog Spring Break t-shirt who is just dying to tell you about that night he did body shots off a hot girl in Cabo.
But back to Chick-Fil-A. When I was in the hospital for my hip surgery, I barely felt like eating for days, especially the gross hospital food. But when my parents showed up with a Chick-Fil-A for me…I felt better.
When I was in high school, my friend Bryan worked at the Chick-Fil-A at the food court in the mall. He always smelled like chicken. I couldn’t mock him though, because I worked a few stores down at the Blimpie, and always smelled like oil and vinegar. We envied my friend Rich, who worked at the movie theater and smelled like popcorn.
My family is also a big fan of the Chick-Fil-A cole slaw, and my mother would send my dad to buy the giant containers of it to serve at every bbq or cookout we ever had. It was the cole slaw equivalent of the famous Snack N Shop potato salad, which I wrote about here, and is the slaw against which all others are judged.
These days, I make it a point to go to Chick-Fil-A whenever I am visiting my parents in Atlanta. It has become something of a tradition that my dad picks me up at the airport, and we stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way to the house. It’s kind of our thing.
Come to think of it, a big part of my love for Chick-Fil-A is its connection with my parents. I’m sure they will enjoy reading that I may on some level equate my love for a pressure-fried chicken breast sandwich with two pickles slices with my love for them, but there you have it.
So I’m thinking about Chick-Fil-A today, because it looks like I am not going to be able to make it to Atlanta for Thanksgiving in a few weeks. Missing the post-airport Chick-Fil-A trip with my dad is just one of the things I’ll miss this year. Have some slaw for me, guys.
And I take our Chick-fil-A for granted… But then again, I didn’t grow up with one–this is the first city we’ve lived in (I think) that has had one.
When I was in high school, my friend Bryan worked at the Chick-Fil-A at the food court in the mall. He always smelled like chicken. I couldn’t mock him though, because I worked a few stores down at the Blimpie, and always smelled like oil and vinegar. We envied my friend Rich, who worked at the movie theater and smelled like popcorn.
Lines like this are why I love you.
Mmmmm… body shots off a hot girl.
I didn’t remember you all worked there. My parents wouldn’t let me work until I graduated. At the time, I was annoyed, but now, I think I must have been nuts.
Chick-Fil-A was the first fast food I ate (and loved) when I moved to America from England just before I turned 5. Then I got to meet the prez of the place when we sang for the opening of the new headquarters with Young Singers. If we kissed him, we got a Susan B. Anthony dollar. CREEPY! Still, tasty chicken.
They started bringing it in to the School of Ed in Indiana, which I was so psyched about, but then I started getting headaches. MSG! Nightmare. So now I can only dream of them. Sigh.
I miss Chik-Fil-A as well. Michael and I used to live in Orlando, FL and were at Chik-Fil-A at least once a week. I had a thing for those crazy waffle fries. With extra salt and a few packets of mayo….YUMMY!
I remeber when we first moved there. We were driving around with our friend (who had been a resident of Orlando for about 8 years) and as we drove by a Chik-Fil-A, I proudly asked “What is Chikfilla?” Gosh, I want those crazy fries.
didn’t know what one was til I hit Memphis and they even sell em’ in the bldg’s @ the U of M campus so the kids eat b4 class for b’fast. luv ‘em now w/ their hot sauce in convenient size packs.
I grew-up around Atlanta, too. Norcross first, then Cumming from 1981-90. I’m about your age. Going shopping together and having Chik-Fil-A was also a special thing between my Mom and I. Really sucked when I got sent to Sacramento after joining the Air Force. Eventually found a Chik-Fil-A in Fairfield, but that was pretty far to go sometimes on an Airman’s pay. Lived far from any Chik-Fil-A’s for nearly a decade! Glad to be back in civilization. Was living in Atlanta for awhile, working at a BMW motorcycle shop, and the Chik-Fil-A founder’s son would come in from time-to-time with his sidecar bike. Had a stuffed cow riding shotgun! He always wore Holstein-hide cowboy boots.
Nowadays, I live near Tallahassee, FL. Like to take my son to Chik-Fil-A periodically ’cause we both like the chicken, and they have an excellent play area. Tal always has a good time there.
John