When I was in grade school, we had one choice for
our beverage during lunch. Milk.
White milk in a glass bottle with a cardboard disk
pressed into the neck of the bottle to seal it.
The seal had a half-moon perforation that had to be
pried up in order to insert the paper straw in the bottle.
When I was in first grade the milk cost 2 cents a day.
A dime for the week.
By the time I got to eighth grade (this was before Junior High
and Middle School were invented) the milk cost 5 cents a day.
Highway robbery, wouldn't you say?
Friday lunch was always special because we had two choices
that day. Plain old white milk or CHOCOLATE milk.
Need I say which one was the choice for most of us?
The food they served in the cafeteria on Friday was different, too.
This was a public school but, they didn't serve meat on Friday.
This made Mom happy because she raised us Catholic and, back
then, Catholics didn't eat meat on Friday. Ever.
So, one Friday we might get a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl
of tomato soup. Another Friday might be tuna casserole or a
tuna salad sandwich. Dessert was usually fruit or pudding.
To this day, if I get a craving for any of those foods listed above,
I automatically think of chocolate milk.
Today, in the grocery store, I decided I wanted the fixins for a
good tuna salad tomorrow. Friday. I also made sure to grab a
bottle of chocolate milk. Plastic bottle, unfortunately. Oh, well.
I think I remember Thursday was spaghetti day.
20 comments:
hey...the painting just floated out of that bunch of words.
Cool.
Chocolate milk, huh?
I had no idea when it finally dawned on me about the fish on Friday business.
Heck, in some ways, I was blind to my environment.
People I paid attention to.
The lay of the land I paid attention to.
What food was served on what day? Not so much.
I think it was about eight years ago. Maybe nine.
Yeah. Nine years ago.
That's when it dawned on me that Fridays were fish day because Catholics ate fish on Friday and Protestants didn't care....just so long at there was MEAT.
I don't know WHAT the atheists ate.
Pizza, I think.
heh...so, there's a new painting coming from this? Great!
It is a kindness that some of the simplicity of youth can come together in the present, and perhaps allow us to come in contact with our innocence? I know, I am going beyond what is simply stated. I suppose when I saw you in a dress, black mary janes, and curled hair, I could think of nothing but the connection. Oh, and a fine broad smile at seeing a bit of your past through your present words.
Who knows, perhaps my mental images are all wrong. Still, they make life so interesting. And, I think they allow me to connect with other people, go places I have never been, and travel through time. Thanks for the memories, or what might pass for them.
Mostly straight blond hair, green eyes and usually a big smile.
I have some photos I need to get to a friend to scan them to a disc for me, and then I can post some.
My first grade year was 1956-57.
Ancient. :-)
Thank you, Doom.
When I was in first grade in Catholic school chocolate milk went from 5 to 6 cents.
It was an outrage. ;)
To heck with the price of chocolate milk.
I remember when a Coca-Cola went from a nickle to six cent in the vending machine....Maybe around the third grade. Boy were we pissed. We all felt betrayed and talked about boycotting (although that didn't come into vogue for a few more years) Coke.
Hammer, you cannot be that old!
Larry, increasing the price of Coke in Georgia??? Those heathens.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. When I was little, our cafeteria was located in the basement. I can still smell it and hear the sounds, echoing. I envision a large slice of orange jello wiggling on the tray...
BTW this is Kat, I am a techno tard and don't know what will happen if I don't choose anonymous. -Don't really want my url on every comment.
Hiya, Kat! Our cafeteria was in the basement, too. Not far from the furnace room where the janitor's 'office' was.
Now, I hear the schools have McD's and Pizza Hut and a dozen vending machines to choose from. Sad. We went to school to learn, not to eat.
We also got the luxury of chocolate milk on Fridays.
But the Friday lunch was fish sticks. The small, rectangular cheapy fish sticks you find in the freezer section.
Every effing Friday. We had one catholic person in the entire school, and she didn't move to town until I was in 8th or 9th grade.
But we still got three lousy, dried out, frozen, breaded rectangles of unadulterated evil.
ooooh, Dave! I forgot about the fish sticks. I'm sure I buried mine in tartar sauce :-)
Your lunches sounded a lot better than ours. And my daughter packs her lunch every day as the ones now are just revolting.
Funny, though, I often wind up with a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for lunch on Fridays now... white milk, though :). Dunno why, really... it just seems to go well with the end-of-the-week.
Fish sticks exist for the purpose of carrying tartar sauce. It's the tartar sauce that matters. Mm!
definatly bringing back some memories, jean :)
Mmm chocolate milk...haven't had that since...maybe since I was a kid! I always liked the jello with the fruit in it for desert. Maybe I was a weird kid.
Diane, a brown bag lunch was always an option, too.
D.C., I think you're right!
Blaez, good to see you again! I'll stop in for a visit soon.
Merelyme, fruit in the jello was a favorite of mine, too. Maybe we were both weird kids ;-)
Fish and grits on Friday. It was the first time I ever had grits, in high school. My parents were Yankees, so grits were anathema to me until I finally tried them. Rubbery yellow-corn grits, almost cold. But I could taste real potential there.
And yes, I too remember chocolate milk on Fridays.
:o)
Joan, I've tried, since I moved to the South, to acquire a taste for grits. Just can't make it work for me.
Friday was french bread pizza day, made even better in middle school because you could buy TWO! lunch tickets for extra pizza!
Just curious, Jean, did you walk to school uphill both ways in the Florida snow?
....or did you just spend 5 minutes cranking the model T?
I kid....
There is a place near my wife's childhood home that still sells milk in the glass bottle with the paper top.
ahem, Lee... it was OHIO snow, thankyouverymuch :-)
It's good to see you again! You've been missed, dear.
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