The 5-second rule applies even after 20 minutes

Many, many years ago, my family and I had a great meal at Breakfast at Antonio's, back when it was still at their original scenic hillside spot (which I love and miss every time I think of it) (like now) (*sniff*).

We had all started eating heartily when we heard Dad exclaim: 

'Ay!'

Apparently, about half of the German sausage on his plate rolled off and fell on the floor, most likely rolling a bit more until it stopped squarely under our table. We all commiserated with Dad:

'Aw.'

After we had finished our individual breakfasts, Dad still looked pretty sad about the wasted food, saying that it was a really big piece that fell. We agreed. He said he wanted to get it (like from under the table, where all our feet were) and try to eat it again. We thought about it for a couple of seconds ... and agreed again.

I don't remember who actually got the sausage from under the table, but I remember we tried to be as subtle about it as possible, so as not to disturb the other diners (or, you know, not to be harshly judged by people who probably have more sense than to retrieve food that has been on the floor for way WAY longer than 5 seconds). I also remember that Dad peeled off the outermost layer of the sausage, because he was really all about hygiene. Har har har. Best of all, I remember that he enjoyed those last few precious bites.

I don't know if there is any big lesson to be learned from this flashback, but if there were, it would probably have something to do with:

• loving food;
• not wasting money;
• not being embarrassed by idiotic but harmless actions; or
• sticking behind your family's decisions.

Or maybe it's simply about making sure that when you have a terrific piece of sausage, stick a damn fork in it and never let it go.

'Ah.'