How Pizza Changed My Life Forever

Jonathan Lung

Mrs. Li

ENG 101-005

31 August 2016

How Pizza Changed My Life Forever

            December 26^st, 1999 is the day that I was introduced to pizza. Who knew that a juicy pizza filled with melted cheese and crunchy pepperonis would convince a picky baby to finally give up his fasting?

            Back about a year ago, my mother was trying to figure out ways to get me to eat. My mother would go to the store after work and buy one of every type of baby food that was available. Much to my mother’s dismay, I would not eat any of them. No matter how hard my mother was trying to convince me that sweet potatoes or sweet peas was good, I would either shake my head in disgust or spit out the food. This war would continue every day and night.

            Everyday, my parents would get more worrisome watching me not eat anything. Every doctor visit always ended with the same conversation: “Don’t worry he will be fine. He will find something he likes to eat.”

            Christmas Eve came rolling by quite quickly that year for my parents. They were getting ready to go to Atlanta to visit my sister for Christmas as a Christmas surprise. It was around 8 o’clock at night when my parents left the little town of Meridian. Driving to Atlanta from Meridian, Mississippi is about a four to five hours drive. You might be asking yourself why are my parents driving so late at night when they could have driven earlier. My parents owed a restaurant and Christmas Eve was always a busy day for the restaurant. Even though they had cleaned up really early, they still had a lot of side work to do on top of having to pack and get enough gas to go to Atlanta on the spur of the moment.

            My parents drove for about four hours before they had to stop by a gas station to pick up more gas and food. Right as they pull up to a Shell gas station, I woke up from my hibernation to my parent’s amazement. They decided to bring me inside so I can get some fresh air. As if God had timed it just right, Hunt Brothers pizza had just finished cooking a small pepperoni pizza and set it on the heating rack. My parents were hungry so they decide to buy two of the pizzas so they can have a small snack before entering Atlanta. While my dad pumping gas, my mom carried me over to the pizza store and bought two small box of pizza. The pizza was the size of a small Frisbee divided into four slices.

            After my mom brought the pizza and me back to the car, my dad finished pumping gas and was leaving the gas station when I famously cried out, “I’m hungry.” In the moment of joy, my mom opened up the pizza box and gave it to me to see if I would eat it. It did not take long for me to finish both boxes of pizza that night. In fact, I told my parents I wanted more; it was the best Christmas miracle they had ever experience. And, to top it off, it had just struck 12 o’clock midnight, signaling Christmas day was here.

            Pizza became my staple food for the next several years, devouring nothing but pizza. Pizza was my lifesaver and my parent’s stress reliever. I remember walking with my mother to a Little Caesar to buy the kid’s pizza. Those were some of my fondest memory. To this day, I still cannot refuse a good pizza with coating cheese and perfectly crispy pepperonis.