The Brown Bag Lunch

One of the things I most remember as a child was the brown bag lunch mom made us for school. I know we weren't rich but my parents couldn't afford to pay for school lunches for the four of us in school at the time. I would be envious of my friend eating their tray of food.
    Well I have to say our lunches were the worst. First let me say that up until I was probably a junior in high school, the only sandwich condiment in the house was miracle whip. I hate everything about this condiment. From the way it smells to the the horrible taste.  So mom made everyone's sandwiches the same.  It started with the best bread known to man, Mrs. Bairds, then she would slather the miracle whip on it. Not a little but a lot. I now have to tell you about the pressed ham that we were given. It was like a ham version of particle board with chunks of meat and fat. It had a sickly sweet taste that did not enhance the miracle whip one iota. She would usually buy 2-3 lbs a week so no chance whatsoever we were running out. So she would create these masterpiece of a non tasty sandwich. Then there was the mix mash of some kind of chip. Let me explain this. She had this Tupperware type bucket with a lid. Every new bag of chips was dumped in there. Did not matter the kind flavor or shape. Now as long as you were getting the new chips off of the top it was fine. But go a few days and start getting close to the bottom of the barrel you would find an assortment of nice stale chips. She did not check them for freshness she was just mass producing lunches.
As if the lunch itself wasn't bad enough, it had to sit in a hot locker transforming and metamorphosising into what can be described as a slimy hot mess. I would walk to the school cafeteria and in the garbage my lunch would go, save my little Debbie. Mom always wondered why I was so hungry after school.
When I went to work with Dad I learned quickly his hand made lunch was slightly worse. Same base ingredients but his meat of choice was spam. I did learn how to make my own lunch thankfully. Now a days its mostly leftovers from the night before. Cynthia usually packs my lunch and we both hate miracle whip so I'm blessed there.
I never once complained to mom. I was happy when we discovered mustard though. She did the best she could I loved her for it. I learned to be happy with what we had. I learned to appreciate the occasional hot lunch and not take it for granted. I learned that a failed experiment of olive loaf did not enhance my lunch at all in fact probably lowered it a notch or two. My mom did so many things right it is hard to complain about a brown bag lunch. I have to say to this day I will not pack my lunch in a brown bag.
Did I mention I hate miracle whip.

Regards
Kenney Big Skinny Pope