I remember when I was four… we lived in England. My two older sisters were in early elementary school. My mom would make a bag lunch for them every day, and then we would walk my sisters to school, which was in Miss Lacho’s home. Since the school was just down the street from our flat, I rode my tricycle to help escort the girls there in the mornings and then back home again later in the day.
Life was good… except for one thing. I wanted to be just like my two older sisters. They got to do everything I didn't. I can’t say I necessarily wanted to go to school at that point in time, but I did want a bag lunch. I remember as my mom would be making the bologna sandwiches in our dinky kitchen, I would be right at her side whining, “Pleeeeease….. Can I have a sandwich, too? Pleeeeease…”
How she stood it, I’ll never know… until that glorious day that she made me a mustard sandwich! Oh my God! She was the best mom in the world! I was on cloud nine. When we delivered my sisters to Miss Lacho’s, I rode sitting taller on that tricycle than I ever had before. I weaved in and around my sisters like nobody’s business! I owned that sidewalk! My mom made me a mustard sandwich and I knew in the deepest place of my soul that I was loved!
Truth be told, there have been quite a few mornings as I’m making my lunch to take to work that I also make myself a mustard sandwich for a pre-breakfast snack. As I stand in my dinky kitchen and eat, my mind either drifts off in wonder of how my mom is doing in Alabama or I remember that day fifty and a few years ago as I stood at my mom’s side, holding onto her leg, craning my neck as I looked up at her and begged for a sandwich, begged to be just like my big sisters. And I remember the twinkle in my mom’s eye as she lovingly looked down at me and handed me that sandwich and then ruffled my hair as she said in her quaint southern accent, “Now get out from under my feet.”
I love you, Momma Pat. Thanks for all the good memories and thanks for the mustard sandwich! Happy Mother’s Day! You’re still the best!
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