Triple Threat

No, I have not added dancing to my resume. I’m the child my mother swiftly moved from ballet to gymnastics and then to softball. I'm referring to a different kind of triple threat.

I was glancing back through photographs and was reminded of the triple threat Ginger that existed from 6th-8th grade. Glasses, braces, and bangs. It’s a sight to behold. And yet I maintained my relatively popular status until my departure to high school. How is this possible you ask? Private school, 20 kids in my whole class, popularity was almost a given, even if you brought Vienna sausages for lunch.

I went to the same private school from 3-year old preschool through 8th grade. The building had two stories and the playground was fitted with monster truck tires painted in primary colors. We went to chapel every Wednesday morning and watched safari films on reels on occasional Friday afternoons.

In 1st-4th grade we ate lunch at 11:30, the older grades at noon. We weren't allowed to trade food. I'm not sure if this was a private school choice, a Christian school rule, or a Lutheran school mandate. Regardless, I can still remember my heart pounding as Mrs. Short hauled Katie McQuillen and myself into the hallway after we tried to trade oreos for chocolate chip cookies. We were properly admonished and sent back to the table. This may have stopped me for a time, but the years brought skill and confidence to our underground ring. I spent 8 years in that lunch room and we always traded.

Even if you weren't allowed to trade at your school I bet you probably did not have a stoplight in your lunchroom. The stoplights' colors, controlled by the teachers, registered the appropriate sound levels. Rowdy lunches were simply quieted by a yellow light and eventually silenced by the red.

And even in the midst of these sanctions on volume and free trade, we still managed to eat, grow, and turn out fairly normal, at least most of us.

*Recipe for a Sodium Sandwich

2 pieces of wheat bread

Vienna Sausages halved and laid on bread

Frito's brand corn chips

1 slice of American cheese

Combine all in sandwich, eat, and enjoy. (Eating too frequently can cause heart problems)