She was about ten years old at the time and for whatever reason food had become scarce at home and for the first time in her life she began to experience what hunger, not knowing where the next meal would come from, felt like. Her family did not live on a rural farm where there may have been a garden to glean from or a fruit tree to pick from. They lived in the projects, an asphalt not yet jungle.
Usually when food became scarce her grandfather would always show up seemingly out of nowhere. He could be described as a chocolate Asian looking Santa Claus armed with enough food to last a while. But for whatever reason this time there was no knock on the door from him with grocery bags in hand. The knock this time came from a most unusual source. It came from Miss Sims her tap dance teacher from the local recreation center. Miss Sims came by to see why she had not been to rehearsal in the past weeks. That young girl stood out of sight as her mom explained, with tears in her eyes, that her daughter had not been doing well. In fact, she was quite weak from hunger. She overheard her teacher say to her mom that if she would allow her daughter to come to rehearsal that she would make sure that she got something to eat. Her mother agreed and her teacher took her and purchased for her a hot dog…fully loaded and a Nehi orange soda! That memory has been with me for more than fifty plus years and at times it seems as if it was only yesterday.
I love a good hot dog! I am from Norfolk, VA. and fully loaded back then was mustard, relish and plenty of onions. No ketchup allowed…thank you very much! They were especially good when grilled. But they had to be cooked almost black before being placed in the bun, then the mustard, then the relish and finally the onions. There is an art to eating a hot dog. You know it’s tasty when a little mustard has dripped down your chin and made it to your shirt! Oh, how I love a good hot dog!
When my husband and I lived and worked in Germany we planned a birthday party for one of our sisters in Christ who had never had one. It was her 60th birthday. Now Germany is no stranger to meat in a casing i.e., knockwurst, bratwurst and the list goes on. But there is just something about a good old American hot dog! I saw my chance of making a formal introduction knowing that it was going to be the best day of her life! Sure, enough the pic says it all! Just like the Lord used Miss Sims to bless me when I was 10 years old, God would use me and the rest of the saints to bless her. As she opened each gift, we witnessed the wonder of a little child. You see we purposely got all her favorite things and made it a memorable celebration. But the icing on the cake was that hot dog! Hey, what can I say? I absolutely love a good dog! Hebrew Nationals are my favorite brand and gotta have the mustard, relish, and onions…lots of chopped onions. Hmm, I just got hungry and nothing would be better right now than a good old hot dog! Anybody wanna join me?