Cream Corn & Jelly Donuts

It seems a bit strange that many of my memories from my childhood are tied to food, but not all in a good way. For example, “cream corn” — reminds me of the bus ride to Arizona when my mom decided to chase after her boyfriend, Wayne who decided to run away to Phoenix with my then babysitter.

Or “jelly donuts” — a food that I will probably go the rest of my life without eating — only because of the memories I have of this being the only food we had, at times, while living on the streets in Arizona. I remember dumpster diving in the large dumpsters behind bakeries to get the large, black garbage bags full of day old donuts — mostly jelly-filled. Sometimes we would mix it up and go behind Burger King or McDonald's and jump in the large dumpsters full of Big Mac or Whoppers that sat under the heat lamp too long. Strange enough, I have no problem eating either of the two hamburgers — just jelly donuts.

Birth order was pivotal in the distribution of food among me and my brothers when we were poor. Eating cereal, usually an exciting time for little kids was all about birth order. Luckily, I’m the middle child so my lot wasn’t that bad, but my poor little brother didn’t always fare so well. My older brother would get to pour his cereal and milk and eat to his heart’s content. Once he finished, he would slide the bowl of milk (what was left) to me, and I would add cereal to it for my meal. After that, and hopefully with some left over to cover the cereal, Brett would get the leftover milk from me. This was something we grew up to think was normal.