MMeM, Vol. 4 Issue 24 – I heard angels singing

Acouple of months ago I was walking through Baltimore/Washington International Airport on business. My flight had just landed and I was feeling a bit hungry but nothing in the terminal looked affordable or even tempting.

However, as I turned the corner from one airline terminal to another I experienced what can only be described as a modern day miracle. There, against a wall all by itself was a lone vending machine. Yeah, that’s right, a vending machine. You may recall my disdain for some vending companies with their aloof advertising…”Fresh To You!”

Well I knew right then and there that I had to eat my words from that previous rant / posting about vending machines. Words cannot adequately explain what I saw. So, I took out my camera and stopped in the middle of everyone’s way to take a picture of the now legendary machine.

Behold! The FRESH GRILLED HOT DOG & SAUSAGE VENDING MACHINE!

I’m pretty sure I heard angels singing and I can’t really recall everything that happened after I took the picture. But I can tell you that it was delicious. Not only was I purchasing a delicious hot dog, but it came from a machine!

No longer did I have to feel obligated to make small talk with a hot dog vendor asking where I was coming from or where I was going.

No longer did I have to pretend to not see the vendor’s disdain for me as they slopped together another hastily made hot dog.

No longer did I have to struggle with simple math while trying to calculate the right amount of change to hand over with my bills so that I got only bills back.

The machine didn’t take extra change like that. It didn’t care where I was from or where I was going. It didn’t judge me for my poor addition and subtraction skills.

It reminds me of that fortune teller machine in the movie “Big” with Tom Hanks. In the end of that movie he goes back to being a kid after getting his wish to be “Big”. Not me. I will never go back. I’ll choose mechanically prepared food every chance I get.

I don’t know, maybe I’ll see another one someday, but I doubt it.