It’s a (wax)wrap

Wax paper lessons.

Sometimes apparent scarcity is a chance to learn and return to solutions from the past. There is no superiority in the solution, but there is opportunity to share an experience of love and care.  Recently, I had 13 extra people staying in my home. That in itself had daily opportunities to serve and give in simple ways — mostly in the form of providing and preparing food!

And as is often the case in any home, no matter what the size, something runs out. In this case, it was ziploc sandwich bags for lunch making.

It was interesting to me that the 18 year olds in the room were stuck until the plastic sandwich bags (which of course are not limited only to sandwich use) were located.

Immediately it brought to mind the image of my own mother decades ago standing in the kitchen of the early morning for the assembly line lunch making for seven kids.

First, she would lay out a line of seven sheets of wax paper, then lay out the very white and wonderful Wonder bread. Next came the sandwich filling for the day.  

After completing the top layer, my mother would fold over the wax paper and make a folded edge to encase and preserve that sandwich until I consumed it in the school cafeteria. To me, opening up that sandwich was like opening a specially wrapped gift.

So I suggested the gathered students use the wax paper. I asked them if they knew how to wrap a sandwich in wax paper.  They looked at me rather confused, wondering why wrap the sandwich when they could wait and stuff it in a plastic baggie? I don’t think I could convincingly convey to them that there were other ways to wrap a sandwich other than a plastic baggie.

There is no superiority in the wrapping, but for me there was an opportunity to learn something new and share an experience of love and care.

I hope when they open their sandwiches in New York and see it wrapped in wax paper, they will remember the hands that cared to show them something new to them and yet old and familiar to me.