Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This sandwich may be the most perfect of all-American foods. I say this with all due respect to the hamburger and the pit barbeque. They’re a dream of home, the idyll of childhood.

If people don’t like them, we need to be wary, these folks may be a friend or foe. Or they may even be deserving of our pity for being lactose intolerant. If someone makes a good grilled cheese sandwich, we know to keep them in our lives forever. If people love them, we know we can love them too. And it’s something I counted on yesterday especially.

Janice sat in a recliner and refused to talk to me. Her chair was swiveled purposely back to me as I stood in the kitchen. I borrowed her favorite peach cardigan and ripped a hole in it… My apologies fell desperately short. I was running out of ideas how to right my wrong, then it came to me.

“Janice it’s lunch time. I can make us a couple of sandwiches.”

Janice unhurriedly turned around the recliner and at last decided to make eye contact with me. She shrugged and said, “I’m in no mood for peanut butter.” My eyes fixated on her arms that were crossed.

“OK, what about a grilled cheese?” Her hardened smile quickly thawed. “Bleu cheese, fontina, or aged cheddar maybe?”

“As long as we have sourdough bread Tara!” Her excited tone gave me newfound hope of a reconciliation. “Because that’s what makes it… it’s the sourdough!”

The sizzling sound of buttered bread in the frying pan may never stop the nations from going to war, but it finally terminated our sibling rivalry. All is right in my world once more. The good news— lousy doesn’t last forever. I give my thanks to this sandwich. More specifically, the cheese and the fried bread for making her happy. Truces such as these can be discovered in deliciousness, and they can arrive in five quick minutes. Just don’t forget the sourdough bread.