Day 19: Chilis Chips & Salsa

It started back in the early 90s and continues to this day: times of deep conversation (well, sometimes it's just frivolous conversation) over chilis chips and salsa and coke. Overtime time it evolved to chips and salsa and a diet coke with grenadine. And, sometimes includes queso. But what remains the same is the conversation that goes along with it.

I can think of so, so many friends and groups who have shared this simple pleasure with me --

• Becky! My good friend with whom this tradition began


• Various college friends after basketball games or on a random Friday night when chips and salsa was literally all we could afford


• Lauren and I making trips to Boulder for this treat while I lived in Colorado


• Those of us who were the "youth group sponsors" in the late 90s would frequent the Brooklyn Park Chilis after events


• Our "cousins coffee" get-togethers sometimes traveled to Chilis


• Somehow I convinced my brother to go to chilis with me while visiting him in Mexico and seeing this oasis in Monterrey


• Many trips with PeeWee over our many years of friendship


• The infamous "rudys girls": Lisa, Annette, Kovonne and I (or 2 or 3 of us) have probably been to chilis together... ummm.... maybe 25 times.... no probably 50 times


• When I first moved to Philly, Kelly would go with me to indulge in this "chain-restaurant-treat" that other Philadelphians wouldn't consider frequenting


• Many friends from Messiah have joined me for chips and salsa allowing this obsession to continue -- what a blessing these times have been to me!

Maybe it's a coping mechanism... maybe it's my love for this salty goodness... maybe a little of both but I think what keeps me coming back is the feeling of sitting at chilis with a good friend. To quote reality bites: "You, me and a couple bucks" (in my case, for the chips and salsa)