It’s strange how something can trigger memories of the past that are buried
somewhere in your mind. Yesterday, I picked up the Edina Sentinel and sat
down to rest a minute and to read what was going on in the community. I
glanced down and saw the school lunch menu for the week and suddenly my
mind was back in Mrs. Jean Miller’s 4th grade classroom again. I closed
my eyes and I could still smell the Noxzema. You may think that is
really weird and wonder what that has to do with school lunch but let me tell
you a little about Mrs. Miller’s class.
Mrs. Miller was a good teacher and I always remember how she used our legal
names when she spoke to us. It made us feel rather grown up and important
too. Instead of just the normal Betsy, Ronnie, or Pamy, in Mrs.
Miller’s class we were Elizabeth, Ronald, and Pamela.
Mrs. Miller was also very helpful and always saw to it that we had everything we
needed. For instance, when there was something special going on in
one of Baring’s two churches, the school children were allowed to attend.
If there was something at St. Aloysius, Mrs. Miller would take bobby pins
and attach folded Kleenex tissues in the girl’s hair so they would have a hat
for church. (I remember wishing I were catholic so I could have a Kleenex
hat but my mother didn’t think that was really a reason to convert)
There were a few of us in grade school who helped in the lunch room.
After lunch each day we would stay and clean tables, wash dishes, and do
whatever needed to be done. I guess they probably didn’t print the menu
in the newspaper back then but it didn’t matter because you knew pretty much
what you were going to have to eat by the day of the week. For instance,
we had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy on Wednesdays and on Fridays we
either had ocean perch or tuna casserole. I even learned to like tuna
casserole after a few years.
Of course to us kids, one of the benefits of working in the lunch room was
getting a few minutes out of the classroom. Friday was the best day of
all, however, because that was when we had ice cream bars for dessert.
(This sort of made up for the tuna casserole). After we were done with our
work, we were allowed to divvy up the left over ice cream bars between us and we
would mash them up in a bowl and eat them. If attendance was down that
day, we might even end up with 3 apiece! We never told the other kids
that we got the leftover ice cream bars because we were afraid if our secret got
out, they would all want to work in the lunch room!
When we came back from lunch room duty, Mrs. Miller would ask us to come up to
her desk and she would open her desk drawer and offer each one of us some
Noxzema to use for hand cream. I remember how cool it felt on my
hands and I would cup my hands to my face and breathe in the fragrance.
So, you see, that’s why Noxzema brings back all those memories. So you see
what happens when you read The Sentinel? It can bring back lots of great
memories even from a school lunch menu. Sometimes it’s good to “wake up and
smell the Noxzema” and to remember being a child again.
Well, it’s almost supper time and it’s Friday so… you guessed it, tuna
casserole, and maybe I’ll mash some ice cream bars in a bowl for dessert just
for old time’s sake!