Look at All the Susans on the Table!!!

Before Harold and I married, his mother would often invite me to their home for Sunday lunch. Mrs. Simon (I never could call her Mildred; I just couldn’t!) was an excellent cook and she would serve a main course and several side dishes with every meal. Harold had some MAJOR adjusting to do when we married, as I would serve a main course and one side, and if I really felt inspired, I’d serve a salad!

She served everything family style so you could choose whatever dishes you wanted, but I thought it so strange that she would have a plate at your place setting, but there were all these bowls you could use for your sides. I just put everything I wanted on my plate, not using the extra bowls. Why would anyone need all those bowls? Besides, the dish washing and drying was delegated to Mr. Simon (Dallas, and I always called him Dallas!) and me if I was there for lunch. There was no dishwasher in existence! I noticed that Harold and his brother, Mark, would put their sides in bowls, but I had no clue it had been a LIFELONG practice for both of them!

When we married, I will never forget the first meal I prepared for Harold; I was so proud of myself! I actually went “all out” and served a meat, two sides, and a salad. I plated everything and set the plates on the table.

“Where are the bowls?” he asked.

“What bowls?” I replied.

“The bowls for the other food; I don’t like anything to touch!”

“Gosh, I don’t do bowls!!!!”

He calmly got up from the table, got a piece of loaf bread, and proceeded to tear it into quarters in such a way as to use it as “partitions” for his food!

I received this picture this afternoon from my brother-in-law, Mark, with the text message, “Look at all the Susans on the table!” It seems that his wife, Denise, calls all bowls, “Susans”, because of this story! And if you will notice, unlike her sister-in-law, Denise does bowls!!! Some things never change!