Hogies and Grinders. Hogies and Grinders. Navy Beans. Navy Beans. Navy Beans.

It's the flu and bug season. G-man came home sick yesterday and is still sick today. I got a flu shot the other day at Walgreens. I'm amazed at how as an adult the shots don't hurt like I remember them hurting as a kid. Back then they used 4 inch long horse needles. I'm sure nanotechnology has made needles much smaller than they were back when I was in school and you would all line up and get your shots in the lunch room. 

Other than that, the lunch room was one of my favorite places at elementary school, second only to the playground. We had a huge mural on the East wall of our lunchroom depicting a circus scene, which was appropriate for the environment. 

Mom liked me to "buy" my lunch when I liked the option. I always liked the hamburgers, fish sticks and sloppy joes. I didn't like meatloaf, barbecued-beef-on-bun or other versions of mystery meat. I used to like the tacos, until once I found a dead fly in the ground beef and I never liked them after that. I think the bare lunch cost was 50 cents. I loved getting the small cup of ice cream with the wooden spoon for an extra nickel. 

Don't get me wrong I "took" my lunch on many days. I liked bologna. Yes, I had to sing the song to spell that. I knew it because my bologna had a first name ...O-S-C-A-R. Although we called it a "boloney" sandwich. 

Mom's don't really understand the time honored tradition of boys "trading" in the lunchroom. I say time honored because my grandfather (dad's dad) once told me how as a boy he would "trade" lunches with a classmate when he was in elementary school. A friend of his was a Seventh Day Adventist (or some faith that for religious reasons didn't allow meat or type of meat on certain days). That boy would trade his good peanut butter sandwich for my Pa-Pa's ol' ham sandwich. It was a good swap for both and neither mom ever knew.

I never traded sandwiches, because I liked the type and way my mom fixed my sandwiches. But staple foods like chips (Cheetos, Lays, Fritos) or fruit (apple, plum, grapes, oranges), Twinkies, DingDongs, Jello-Pudding or other desserts (but never chocolate chip cookies) were always up for barter. Moms get in a rut and boys like variety. Mainly you just learned what some poor kid had to put up with at home when they had a mom who didn't care what they liked to eat.