Twinkies Always Make Me Think of My Mother

I know this is strange, but just seeing a picture of that sweet treat in its cellophane wrapping brings back warm memories of my Mom. When we were kids she made our lunch everyday and suffice it to say, we rarely had the same kind of lunches other kids did. We would look longingly at the bologna and cheese sandwiches on white bread, or PB&J sandwiches, which other children seemed to get on a regular basis.

Our Mom, for a large chunk of her over 50 year career as a registered nurse, worked overnights. When she would arrive home in the morning, she had other things on her mind besides what she was feeding us for lunch. Getting us to school on time was the main activity and with three sleepy, hard-to-motivate girls as her charges, this was not easy.

Over the years our lunches sort of became legendary and several of them stand out in my mind to this day. There was the sturgeon sandwich; which fascinated other kids. "What the heck is sturgeon? Where did your Mom get that? Why did she put that in your lunch?" The answers were: "a kind of fish, don't know and no idea!".

Then there was the day she put a stick of pepperoni and a thermos of hot chocolate in our lunchboxes. The kids in the lunchroom at the Catholic school we attended used this particular meal as a bullying tool. (Truthfully, it was just one of many reasons that kids used to bully us, but it was a doozy!).

Once in a while, usually after much whining and pleading on our parts, Mom would put together what we perceived as a normal lunch. It would include: a sandwich with some sort of cold cut and cheese, on white bread, a small package of chips of some variety, milk in our thermos and on very rare occasions- a cellophane package of Twinkies!

This quiet gesture by my overworked, stressed out mother still resonates with me today as an expression of love and understanding. Her awareness that our childhood (which was quite often perilous and violent) was not turning out quite as she had hoped was keen and her sorrow over it deep. But you slogged on, because that is what you did back then.

When she made the time for small special touches, it meant a lot to me and that is why on this National Twinkie Day, I (weirdly) salute my Mom!

For ten things you didn't know (but want to) about one of America's favorite snacks, click here.

(Twinkie info courtesy E online)

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