Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

Although we have an incredible amount of technology today, which, for the most part is a good thing, sometimes it is the simple pleasures that bring the fondest memories.

My mother grew up on a small farm and although she and her siblings and parents lacked many material goodies and creature comforts (such as running water), they always had food on the table. Fresh vegetables, wild berries and fresh or home canned meats and canned veggies. I did not know my grandparents until they were much older and living in a small country house on a acre or so, but I sure enjoyed visiting them when I was a youngster. Granddad hunted until he was into his eighties (master marksman too) and when we were visiting him he would get up early and feed his hound dogs and we would all sit down to a hearty country breakfast prepared by grandma. Home made preserves, sausage of various types, eggs, biscuits, grits etc. and for dinner it was plenty of meat and a choice of root vegetable, lima beans or corn, bread, gravy and such, all delicious and made with love.

My mother did a good bit less home cooking and scratch cooking, but she had her specialties like pot roast, chicken pot pie, meat loaf, fresh fried fish and other seafood (we lived on the East Coast), beef stew and for lunch one of my favorite meals was a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup. We also had a wood burning fireplace in our house and we had one of those clam shell popcorn poppers that you could hold over the fire to pop the corn...delicious. Although dad worked some pretty long hours, most of the time the family was able to dine together and enjoy a good, often home cooked (as opposed to pre-cooked and frozen) meal.

My wife was reared by hardworking, but usually poor, parents and in her house scratch cooking was an economic necessity. My wife learned the art of cooking from scratch, with just a few basic ingredients and I have been quite thankful she learned that skill. (Though I'm a bit less thankful for my expanding waistline) Now, our son gets to enjoy delicious, made from scratch, meals most days and one of his favorite meals is a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup; sometimes it's Campbell's and sometimes it's some of our homemade and home canned soup. I know he will always have fond memories of sitting at the dinner table with the family enjoying a good home cooked meal.

For most people under 30, a home cooked meal made with love is something they will never experience. With half of all marriages ending in divorce (this corresponds with the increasing size of the frozen food section at the local supermarket) and most divorced single mothers constantly bitching to their male children about how their ex-hubbie in particular and men in general suck, it's no wonder we have a generation or two of emasculated men, some of whom grow up to be environmental homosexuals. (I actually think there are two types of homosexuality, genetic and environmental. One type is due to a genetic screw up and the other is due to the environment one is reared in.) The single parent family (male or female) is not what God intended.

Men have forgotten their biblically mandated role as a Godly head of the household and women have forgotten their biblically mandated duties as wives. Home economics is rarely taught in schools any more and it seems like more men today have an interest in cooking than do women. (This is not necessarily bad as a good cook can be male or female, but the food always seems to have more love if it was made by mom.) Too bad, because a good meal, eaten with the family, is one of those life experiences that tends to induce a sense of civility and compassion in a person.

When an older person drives by a restaurant that advertises "home cooking", they get a memory of a meal that may have taken hours to prepare and that was enjoyed by the entire family. For many younger folks, the memory they get is of a frozen TV dinner getting tossed into the microwave.

Sometimes the good 'ol days WERE the good 'ol days.