Lighter Rice, Darker Rice
The waitress at my favorite home-style Korean restaurant brought us our left-over Bi Bim Bap in a bag containing two take-out containers."You'll know which is which, because," as she points to me, "yours is the lighter rice," and pointing to the man I've been seeing, who, yes, you guessed it, just so happens to be black, "and yours is the darker rice."I squirm in my seat, and half-smirk, half-smile at my companion across the table.The waitress, the friendly 20-something daughter of the husband-wife team that runs the place, pauses, I believe realizing her awkward Korean moment, places the bag down on our table, and hurries away.I laugh, and look over at Super H. Genius, the name I am giving him here--letting him be anonymous for the time being--Super: because he's super nice, Genius: because he's super smart, or smaht, if you say it with a Rhode Island accent, and H. for Handsome, because he's that, too.I have to admit, that this being the first time I am posting about dating someone since my divorce, I feel awkward. I don't want to be disrespectful to my former husband. I worry about relatives of his reading this and thinking badly of me. I even wonder what my own friends and acquaintances will think about it, since I'm a pretty private person and haven't shared much publicly about my relationship news.I even feel a bit like a traitor to the Korean family that runs the restaurant. I wonder if they remember me from when I used to come with my former husband and daughters, especially since my daughters told me they've been there with their Dad recently. Are they disappointed that I didn't stay in my marriage? Do they think it is too soon for me to be ordering the fragrant Bi Bim Bap with somebody else?I suppose I can't worry about being a private person now that I have a blog.Back to the rice. I say to Super H. right after the waitress leaves, "see, I get the lighter rice because I am white and you get the darker rice because you are black.""Naw, I think it's because I have a darker mood, and you have a lighter spirit." See how nice he is.The waitress returns, and delicately, using humor as her saving grace, says, while looking at Super H., "yes, you put a lot of the sauce in your rice, like me. You must like it spicy, too."We all laugh. I don't even want to start reading Freudian slips into her references to spiciness. Like I said, she's a lovely young woman, and as you've witnessed here on this blog, I have had my awkward white girl moments on more than one occasion.Next time I'll be sure to use just as much hot sauce as Super H*., just to help an awkward sister out. *Oh well, Super H. broke up with me the same night I wrote this post up, but I decided to post it anyway, because I think it's funny, and it's honest.