Peanut Butter Day

Being as today is National Peanut Butter Day and that today is the first day of National Peanut Month, I am going to reminisce about the first grade.

Turn back the clocks and pretend you are me in 1968 . I am 5. It is lunch time and everyone sits at their desk at lunch and eats what they have brought. I don't recall this particular day what I have in my lunch box, but I would be surprised if it wasn't peanut butter and jelly (grape, thank you) on white bread.

For some reason the teacher is not in the room. For another reason, one of the boys in the front row (hmm, why am I not in the front row...ah, alphabetical seating) jumps up and announces that he will eat anything. Was he waiting to someone to argue with him? No. He waited for nothing. And announced again he would eat anything. And to prove it he said...He reached into his red plaid lunchbox with a yellow handle and pulled out his peanut butter sandwich (no crusts) and ripped it out of the wax paper wrapping.

He held up the one fourth of the peanut butter and crustless white bread sandwich, knelt on the floor and then wiped the sandwich on the floor. Next, he jumped up, held the square in the air and looked up at it with the sliest of sly sparkles in his eye and half a smile on his face. Slowly he lowered his arm widening his half a smile to a full-faced grin.

He opened his mouth with the sandwich hovering near his gaping maw. Before we knew it, Patrick popped the sandwich into his mouth and bit down then chewing whole-heartedly.

You would think this would have stopped me from eating peanut butter and jelly for the rest of my life.  Nope, it didn't. I taught me to keep away from Patrick!