Exceedingly Mundane

When I was reading the book “The Secret Life of Bees” a couple of weeks ago, I ran across one sentence that conjured up some memories from my childhood. It’s a inconsequential sentence, on page 112. The main character, a girl of 14 named Lily, had just had a small fainting spell and the other characters were fussing over her. The book reads “We sat in the den, where I ate supper off a tray, which was a privilege in itself.”

As soon as I read that line, I remembered this from my own childhood. Growing up, I really only remember being at home by myself. My sisters left for college by the time I started first grade. I remember all meals being at the kitchen table, with my mother and father. I have vague memories though, of being sick or it being a special occasion or something, and I would be allowed to eat in the den, on a tv tray. I remember doing this a lot more once I was older, like in high school. You know, once I was responsible enough not to make a mess and spill things on the couch or floor in the den. I think I can remember once, laying on the couch and I was sick, and I got to eat supper off the tv tray. It was chicken noodle soup and saltine crackers and a Sprite. My mom was big about Sprite if my stomach was hurting. And saltine crackers. And the soup from the red and white Campbell’s can. I also ate a lot of plain toast, no butter, if I was sick. When I started to feel better, she would scramble me an egg.

Anyway, it’s always been funny to me that I remember so little of my childhood. What I do remember is mostly from photographs, from stories others have told, or just very small snippets of things that will pop into my head at the oddest time. Like when I was reading this book. I remembered after reading that line that eating on a tv tray was a really big deal. I looked and looked for a photograph of me eating in the den on a tv tray, but of course I could not find one. My parents weren’t big on taking pictures at all (I think that’s why I’m so obsessed with it). What few pictures of me that exist are at Christmas or Easter. No everyday pictures, no pictures of things around the house, which I think is part of what spurs me to take so many “nothing” pictures. Anyway, I did find this picture of me in high school. I have no idea who took it or why, but I’ve always liked this picture of me! I liked the way my hair was pulled back in a ponytail! You can see the tv tray I’m talking about on the right. That’s the same set my parents had all my life. Some of those 60’s or 70’s models, thin aluminum and the legs folded flat against the tray. You popped them out and snapped the tray together. Eating off a TV tray was a big deal in my young life