By: Kyle Xu

The day was messy. We thought it’d be easy—pizza for 20 people, drinks, yogurt. But Costco on a Saturday is insane. The line for pizza was super long, like wrapped halfway through the store. I stood there forever checking my phone, knowing we were gonna be late. By the time I got the pizzas, water, and yogurt, I was stressing.

We got there barely on time. The building just looked like a normal place with lights on. When I got out, there was a guy waiting and I felt bad because we were late.

Before I could even grab anything, he came over and helped us carry stuff. He was really chill about it, which made it less awkward. I think his name was Marcus, but I’m not totally sure.

Inside was just a simple room with tables and chairs. Clean, nothing special. I set up the pizzas and drinks. A volunteer mom brought home-made musubi. I personally loved it, but I doubt if other people would enjoy it as much as I do.

Families came in, just normal people. A couple kids, some parents, a few little kids in strollers. Honestly, everyone looked… normal. Like you wouldn’t think anything was different.

I sat with this family—Marcus, his wife, and their two kids. We ate and just talked. It wasn’t weird or serious like I thought it might be.

Me and the son talked about skateboarding. He just got a board and is trying to learn tricks. I told him about a skate park I know. We just talked like that for a while.

No one really talked about anything heavy. It was just people eating pizza and hanging out. Pretty normal, actually.

After the pizza was gone, I saw two younger kids putting yogurt cups into a backpack. They weren’t being sneaky, just quiet about it. Their mom nodded at them. I realized they were saving it for later, like for breakfast or something.

When it was time to clean up, everyone helped—volunteers and families. People wiped tables and stacked chairs. It didn’t really feel like there were two different groups.

Outside, it was super dark. Like really dark. I stood there for a second and looked back at the building.

I thought I was going there to help and maybe see something serious. But mostly I just sat there, ate pizza, and talked to some kids about skateboarding and random stuff.

The only thing that stuck with me is that it just felt normal. Nobody made a big deal about anything.

I hope they have a good weekend. I think I will too.