Top Notch Hamburgers

Zen Burger

Sometimes I am a little bit spacey. I get very much into my own head, or la-la-land as we sometimes refer to it in my family, to the point that I frequently will very nearly jump out of my own skin when someone happens to speak to me. It amuses most people, which amuses me, but there have been a few here and there that have actually gotten concerned about my well-being, which amuses me even more.

Sometimes I am deep in thought, about important things or superfluous things, and sometimes I am just in the zone... as silly as that may sound.

On a recent day when I had not gone to the store in a while or been home to cook and as a result had nothing to pack for lunch, I found myself grabbing my purse and walking outside my office building. I wasn't craving anything, I wasn't even particularly hungry. Nor did I have any specific idea of where I was going, just that I was going somewhere and that food would be involved, and that when I got to my destination I would know it.


When I opened the door to the outside world and discovered it was a picture perfect day, I knew that sitting outdoors had to be involved. So I got in my car, and I drove... without purpose but without aimless wandering, and my path lead me to Top Notch. I saw the sign and knew that was where I needed to be.

I pulled in and briefly looked at the menu, not really enough to consider it, and found myself ordering the No. 3 Top Pick, something I had never ordered before. I left my window rolled down and observed the blue skies and the wispy, faint cirrus clouds. I observed the flames through the window where the burgers are chargrilled. I observed a man eating his burger in a car nearby, wrapped up in his own thoughts. Sounds from Burnet Road filtered though my window. All were present, yet all were indistinct... like a dream, you could say.

There are times when you just need to allow yourself to discover the path as it presents itself before you, without over-analyzing it. Without worrying about where it leads. Without concern for how much bad cholesterol you are about to consume. Without a thought as to where your food came from. You just have to be.  Be in the moment. Be the blue skies and the wispy clouds. Be the special sauce. Be the chopped onions and the grated cheddar cheese. And the hickory sauce. You have to be the burger. And then you have to let the burger be in your belly. And be happy. And content.

You have to let go and just go with it.