Mobridge Memories

Still thinking about growing up in the 30's and 40's in a dusty, prairie village in South Dakota. I thought about the luncheon meals my mother used to feed me. She was no gourmet cook but I enjoyed a few of the things she fed me. She would melt American cheese and then pour it over saltine crackers. Sounds like an odd lunch, but I remember enjoying it. Another of her and my favorites was creamed tuna over Chinese noodles. Amazing how many meals can be constructed by starting with a cream sauce--tuna, chicken, hard boiled eggs, minced ham, diced bologna. Another was a plate of white rice with butter, sugar, and cinnamon sprinkled on top. I remember the required meal whenever any of us got sick, milk toast, heated milk with butter poured over a couple slices of toast. My father even ate it when he was healthy, also chunks of bread in a glass of milk. Rosalie remembered eating sugar sandwiches and mayonnaise sandwiches. I think I've had sugar sandwiches but not the mayonnaise. And while I'm reminiscing about being sick, I remember the swabbing of the chest with Vicks Vaporub, the sleeping in a sheet tent with a vaporizer going all night, the doses of Castoria, the occasional doses of castor oil (yuck!). Ah, yes, those were the days. I'm sure no matter what our ages, we can all still recall that unique smell of Vicks.