Tales from the Cafeteria

Like chicken nuggets in an industrial-sized oven and limp green beans sifted through a giant steam tray these are the days of our lunch time.

At fourteen, I was a reserved kid prone to shyness, except when it came to matters of the heart. I could be quite expressively volatile and didn’t suffer fools easily. So when the boy I had a crush on for what seemed like forever asked me out (you know “going out” where you don’t actually go anywhere because you can’t drive and well, you’re fourteen so really your life consists of movie nights with friends and such) I was ecstatic. When he dumped me the next day in fourth period French, I got pissed. He sent me a note from across the aisles. It was lame just like him. I had to send a message that this type of weenie-ass behavior would not be tolerated.
At lunchtime that day I stood up at my table clearing my throat. I asked for the surrounding table’s attention and all eyes were on me. My 24 hour ex/McDonald’s drive-thru boy was sitting at a nearby table chocked full of his little skater friends. I opened the note and began to read. Like a bad actor from a low-budget hack Shakespeare Company, I read the note loudly and with great exaggeration. At the end when I got to the part where he stated, “I can’t be tied down despite how I feel. I guess I’m just a loner, a rebel.” I placed the back of my hand to my forehead and pretended to faint dead away in my cafeteria style orange plastic chair. His friends broke up with laughter and he slunk to almost floor level in his seat. The surrounding tables exploded into laughter and thus my reputation was born. No longer quite so reserved I had become daring.

This true cafeteria/lunch time story was brought to you by School Menu and Family Everyday. Check out School Menu and its parental counterpart Family Everyday, two sites that work together with School Food Services Directors to provide and promote healthy eating and physical fitness for kids and their parents.

I love when people are given a chance to get involved in their community and School Menu does just that. It’s a great site that promotes healthy eating, physical activity and better nutrition and more involvement for families with their schools meal programs. Visit the site and click on your state today. It’s a great resource and information tool.
Family Everyday is another great site affiliated with School Menu. They have fun games, parenting tips and articles, as well as resources for better family balance and time management. Don’t we all need a refresher course on that from time to time? Check out the quiz, ‘What type of TV Mom are you?’- I’m CAROL BRADY!