For the love of lox

I had eyed that Noah’s Bagels as the bus turned the corner into our hotel parking lot the first night we arrived in El Segundo. There it was, across the street from where we would be staying, luring me to get a bagel with lox and cream cheese everyday for breakfast. But I couldn’t. I had to do breakfast duty with the kids. Or, I was too tired to get up early enough to make my way across the street and back in time for departure. So, Noah’s had to wait. And, so did I.

But, finally, on the last day in El Segundo with all the kids safely on the bus and driving back to San Francisco and with me staying behind with Jeanne to come to pick me up, I would have my bagel breakfast. I told Jeanne of my breakfast plan and how I had thought about it for days and dreamt about it for nights, and she was all aboard.

She came to the hotel to get me, we drove across the street, and we stepped into that Noah’s Bagel. I couldn’t see so Jeanne had to read the menu board for me (my eyes had gone all blurry on me, everything was in doubles, and I was slightly nervous). We thought we wanted the lox schmear until we heard the man who had actually cut in front of us in line order a lox sandwich. I wanted that instead: a toasted Everything bagel with cream cheese, lox, tomatoes, onions, and capers; it was perfection in sandwich form.

Our bagels came with pickles and a choice of salad (we chose fruit), which I thought was odd but I ate them anyhow (the pickle first). I rearranged the toppings of my bagel and re-spread the cream cheese, and took a huge bite. It felt like I was now, finally, complete, that that bagel was what I was missing my whole life.