A Soft Spot for the Lunch Ladies

There are certain milestones that mark significant events in the lives of our children, lots of them in the first year - first words, crawling, walking. This week we had, what I think of, as a major milestone - the first day of kindergarten. Yep, on Monday we sent out our firstborn into the world. My wife and I spent the rest of that day in our respective places of employment but preoccupied with thoughts about how are boy was doing. Has he made new friends? Will anyone be mean to him? Does he miss us? Did we pack him enough for lunch? I wonder what he is doing right now?

At the end of the day, when we were all back home, we were relieved to find out that he had a good day, even though when we pressed him for specifics we got lots of one-word answers and “I don’t knows.” It seems that our son made the transition to kindergarten much more easily then had mom and dad.

I thought back to my own first day of school. I was not nearly as brave as my little guy. As my mother tells the story, there were lots of tears from both her and me and I needed lots of assurance that she would really be back to pick me up. Within a few days, however, I had settled into the new routine and gone were all worries and fears of abandonment. 

Henry, our son, is attending full-day kindergarten, but thanks to our wacky state laws we can’t call it that so it is officially called “Kindergarten” and “Beyond Kindergarten.” Attending all day means, of course, that he eats lunch at school. This kid has been talking about getting a lunch box since he was about three years old. The kind of lunch box he wanted changed as often as his year-long hints about what he wants for his birthday each time it rolls around. His fickleness was usually dictated by whatever kid’s movie was most popular at the time. It just so happened that we ended up with a Cars lunchbox this school year. For now, most of the time, he’ll be bringing his lunch from home; but occasionally he will be eating the cafeteria food. 

Even before I was the Hungy Hoosier, I was still hungry and I have very vivid memories of lunches in the cafeteria. Like Henry, I sometimes brought my lunch and other times went through the cafeteria line. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for lunch ladies - the school cafeteria workers who have to deal with strict nutritional standards, skimpy food budgets, and yet somehow come up with meals kids will actually eat. Theirs’ is no easy task. 

My grandmother was one of these lunch ladies back in her home town in Arkansas. This is one of many jobs she had as a single parent raising five kids and later supporting herself once the kids were out of the house. She was the kind of lunch lady that all her students remember. She knew each child’s name and dished out meals along with giant servings of love. During my many years of matriculation I encountered several lunch ladies. Many reminded me of my grandmother - kind, warm, and efficient. I also have memories of a couple that would have given even the saltiest Navy cook a run for his money in the gruffness department.   

I’ve not yet met the cafeteria workers at Henry’s school and I wondered which kind of lunch lady my sweet child would encounter. I wondered if the occupation would still largely be female. Might there be Lunch Gentlemen? Would they be Attila the Hun in an apron, frightening young children? I asked a few of the more-seasoned parents about lunch in the cafeteria and they filled me in. It seems my fears were unfounded. I was told that the lunch staff is great. This was confirmed after the first day Henry ate a cafeteria lunch instead of bringing his from home. “What were the lunch workers like, Henry?” Giving one of his trademark one-word answers he said, “Nice.” Good enough for me.

Note: The above photo is not of the lunch workers at my son's school. These are the lunch ladies from my Kindergarten year (1970-71) at the Windsor Hills Elementary School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. You'll notice that five of the eight are wearing groovy cat-eyed glasses. You've got to love the eary 70s!

Originally published in quality newspapers on August 17, 2006