Mixture Sandwiches
My mother married when she was only 15
years old. I was born when she was 19. Having such a young
mother was an advantage for me. She was very active with my
childhood interests and friends. She always encouraged my
friends to visit and tried to make them enjoy their visits.
Often she would prepare snacks of cookies, peanut butter
sandwiches, lemonade and things like that.
Shirley lived next door. Since I was an only child and at
that time she had no brothers or sisters, we became very
close, like brother and sister. She enjoyed my mother’s
snacks too. One day I was at her house and she decided we
should have a snack like she often had at my house. We went
into her family’s kitchen to make sandwiches. She got out
four slices of bread and then realized she had nothing to
put in the sandwiches. She never let on that she had a
problem, but simply spread the bread with mustard and then
added some apple jelly and closed the sandwiches. I asked
what kind of sandwiches these were. She responded that they
were called “mixture” sandwiches and she had them all of
the time. I was not sure of that but I was hungry and
decided to try one. Boy! It was good! It had a sweet tart
taste that’s difficult to describe. After that we often
enjoyed “mixture” sandwiches. I even had Mother make them
for me from time to time.
Many, many years later when we were in our sixties, she
came back to Fayetteville for an aunt’s funeral. She asked
to visit my mother who was now in her eighties. I drove her
to my mother’s house and after the visit we drove around
Fayetteville. She noted all of the changes. It was around
noon when we arrived back at her aunt’s house. She politely
asked if I could come in for a bite to eat. I needed to get
home, but I reminded her of the “mixture” sandwiches and we
both had a good laugh. It was the last time I saw her
before her death.
I still have “mixture” sandwiches from time to time. I had
one for lunch today. You should try one. You’ll need some
sandwich bread, a jar of apple jelly and some mustard. I
believe you will like it.