My daughter came home the other day and said, “Mama, look what I found.” I thought it would be a new pair of shoes or shirt, but it was this tiny waffle maker made by DASH. When we see “things” our mind immediately “thinks.”
My first thought was of Kellogg’s TV commercial for frozen waffles, where two siblings go to grab the round Eggo waffle that pops out of the toaster and they say in unison, “L’Eggo my Eggo.” This tag line for selling Eggo waffles was clever, such a great jingle to it.
My second thought was of Sunday mornings when I was a child. If my mom said, “get out the griddle,” we knew we were having a breakfast feast. I have three siblings, so we would all do something. One would get the griddle, one would start to set the table, one would get the bacon and help make the pancake batter. Team work was key, we worked together as a finely oiled machine. Soon breakfast was ready!
The worst was when we were ready to eat breakfast and we heard my mother say, “ONE OF YOU has to get your father’s newspaper!”
At this moment, it was not team work, it was “it’s your turn, not mine.” My mother would say, “if you keep arguing, the food will get cold.”
Suddenly, silence. One of us would reluctantly say, “Ok, I’ll go.”
Ah… childhood memories!
So, that little waffle machine made me smile. We have gone from a big griddle for six people down to a small waffle machine meant for “one.” However, breakfast would still be honored… just in a small way.
Tradition, it goes from big to small and hopefully, back to a big celebration again!
Today I thought of my ex-father/n/law who is in heaven. He was 99 years old just shy of turning 100 when he passed away a few years ago! He was from Germany and loved breakfast. His favorite place to go for pancakes was “The Original Pancake House.” We would often go every weekend after church. A family ritual for Opa. His favorite pancakes were the 49er pancakes. A nice memory.
Unfortunately, due to tough parking, I was 30 minutes late. The line for being seated was so long that I was too shy to go through the line asking, “Are you a member of the Midwestern Meetup Group?” It wasn’t going to happen. Maybe if I had had a megaphone and made a Midwestern joke, but I hadn’t been prepared for such a crowd.
More pancakes. I work with two Ukranian Technicians and their mother’s often make crepe style pancakes, but instead of making them sweet, they add chicken or a vegetable and roll it up. Last week one of them shared with me a chicken crepe. He told me when he was young his mother made a lot of dinner dishes using these thin pancakes.
Brilliant Viewpoint 