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School lunch memories

Itís not that we couldnít afford school lunch, my mom just decided we would carry ours from home. I remember the metal lunch boxes, the first one an oval with two handles like a picnic basket, and then an assortment of squarish boxes. Thinking back, I believe I even had a Hopalong Cassidy lunch box. He was a favorite.
Lunch was a sandwich wrapped in waxed paper, a piece of fruit and maybe a dessert, like a homemade cookie. I bought milk at school. I remember eating with Sharon Bowser and Jimmy Colaizy. He said my bananas werenít ready to eat because they werenít black. Ugh. I even remember the smell of the lunch room, I canít describe it though. In some ways, there is still that faint aroma of the lunchroom in todayís schools.
Hot lunch at our school always included peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Some kids only ate them and tossed the rest of the lunch. Some ate the lunch and a handful of the PB & H sandwiches too.
There was always fish for Friday. I doubt if the kids today know why? I donít even know if they serve fish at all today.
The hot lunches were pretty routine, you could tell what day of the week it was by what was being served.
Wednesday was sloppy joe day. The open-faced sandwiches, oozing with ground beef mash, were accompanied by whole kernel corn and something else, which I canít for the life of me remember.
I do know that on occasion, my mother would let me have hot lunch and I chose Wednesday. How ìinî I felt not having to tote a metal box, not having to go to the ìmilk onlyî line and not having to sit with the cold lunch bunch. To this day, I cannot serve sloppy joes at home without the whole kernel corn accompaniment.
I do remember that lunch time was fun. It was a time to relax a little, giggle and whisper, pass notes and stare (when you got older) at that boy on whom you had a crush.
And best of all, it was followed by outdoor recess.
Oh, the memories of school lunch. Iíll bet you have yours too. Some, I know, go back to the one-room school house, others probably already can think back on the baked-potato line.
We kid about school lunch, we might even complain about the terrible food that we thought was served. But arenít we glad we live in a country where school kids get a lunch? Some donít. Long live the school lunch.

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