It's Just a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I remember what I had for lunch on December 7, 1997.  I had a grilled cheese sandwich - the last meal before delivering my daughter Julie, the next day.  (My last meal before Kaitlin was born was coconut shrimp but that's an entirely different story.)  I remember what the last meal Joe cooked for us before he became too sick to stand that long.  It was grilled cheese sandwiches.  In our house he made all the grilled cheese sandwiches.  We used to tell him he needed to open a grilled cheese restaurant because he made them better than anyone else did.  Grilled cheese became our go-to dinner when nothing else sounded good.  It was a family thing.

 Silly, maybe.  


Let's go 2,000 miles away to Ohio and Mark and Vicki are sitting around watching television and they both want something to munch on but nothing sounds good.  They look at each other and in unison say "grilled cheese sandwiches".  They took turns making them but that was their go to food also.  Nothing satisfying the soul like gooey oozy cheese melting between two pieces of bread. It was a family thing.

Silly, maybe.


I can tell you that until April 29, 2016 it had been almost 2 years since I had last eaten one of those tasty sandwiches.  I took 2 bites, almost couldn't swallow it and started crying, passing the sandwich over to Mark to eat.  How is it possible that so much emotion can be felt over a grilled cheese sandwich.  IT'S A SANDWICH!!!  Yes it's a sandwich but it stood for so much more than just food.  Whether you ate it with pork and beans and a pickle or tomato soup and cheetos it was love.  It was comfort.  It was familiar.  It was special.  It was a family thing.

Last night, it was time.  We planned it.  We all sat around the table and made lots of small talk about the day and plans for the weekend while munching on the grilled cheese that Mark prepared for all of us.  So like other family traditions we have combined in the past year we now can eat grilled cheese sandwiches together and laugh and maybe have a special memory of sandwiches in the past while we start a new chapter for the grilled cheese sandwich.  It's still a family thing.

Do you have a special food that makes you feel safe and good and happy?


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