Feeding frenzy

So today I experienced my first “office lunch outing.” Seven of us went to Dogfish Brewery and the company picked up the tab.

This is not something I am used to.

In the Navy, when things like this happen, it is a precursor to bad things incoming. This happens and people look to the skies for the storm clouds or the horsemen of the apocalypse…maybe even some random asshole dignitary wanting to “spend time with the Sailors” which translates into long bouts of cleaning (affectionately called field days. No sack races or tug of war there. Only tug of war happening is you against your hair.)

So I went to eat and realized that chow time is different for cake eating civilians compared to Sailors, and nukes in particular. You “normal” people go to lunch, talk about the weather and your favorite butt oil or the recent HGTV episode. As a Navy Nuke, food is a luxury and the time to sit can change in a second.

You could be sitting down to eat, fork in hand and suddenly the whole world takes a dump on you and you gotta go…therefore no food. As such we tend to eat fast, don’t talk and worry about tasting it later.

The fellow vets I work with seem to eat like regular people…I ate like Somali midgets were about to raid my plate. My burger was gone super fast and I sorta sat there quietly while everyone else finished.

I also realized that I am quite content to sit quietly and enjoy the moment, cause you don’t get a lot of chances to do that in the Navy either. All I could hear in my head was Princess Jasmine singing…”A whole new world…”