The perfect summer meal!

"Kids, come get your sandwiches!"

Those were the words we would never tire of hearing after a long stay in the pool!

The sandwiches were simply magical! Perhaps it was due to us playing for hours on end in the pool with all sorts of exhausting and daring water games. Or perhaps it was due to the simple novelty of eating outside with all the freedom of roaming around and getting to play all while holding food. That's something we never would have gotten away with in the house! Or perhaps it was simply how delicious the sandwiches were with the creamy peanut butter, the overflowing yummy jam, and the soft white bread; all coming into a sweet harmonious flavor, sending our brains on a happy dancing spree!

I can remember a specific time when we had been lucky enough to have been gifted super soaker squirt guns by our parents. Being nine at the time, I remember struggling to pump the gun up with air as my older sisters would easily soak me. And yet, even though I was struggling, I was still having a blast! I remember the hot California sun burning my long ago sun-screened skin, but make no mistake, I was having a blast! Because no lack of skills, no burning skin, no nothing would ever stop me from enjoying the wonderful days of summer, the days of no school, of larger than life super soakers, the days of our very own pool! What could be better? Well, I guess you could throw delicious food in the mix.

"Did you guys hear me? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are made and I left them at the front door. Eat up!"

Did she just say peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?! Now, that is perfection! In a mad rush, we all abandoned what we were doing and swarmed the porch! It didn't matter what sandwich one grabbed as they were all perfect: oozing from every porous bready hole with sticky jam and even gooier peanut butter, our taste bud's imagination were activated even before we managed our first bite! This was summer. And peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were the perfect summer meal!

It was hit or miss if we were ever given anything to drink with our sandwiches as it was understood that we had the garden hose for quenching our thirst. That was the 90's for you. But we kids didn't think twice about it! Something again about the freedom of roaming free, eating our sandwiches, and quenching our thirst with the garden hose made it all the more memorable. We were kids and we were playing our way with all the endless possibilities around every corner!

Now if you would ask my sisters at the time, popsicles and watermelon may have been a competing favorite summer meal for hot outside days of fun. But that was absurd in my opinion and for these three reasons. One: peanut butter sandwiches can be made in under five minutes, so the wait was not bad at all before mom came outside presenting the glorious wonders for us to inhale. Two: peanut butter sandwiches never failed to please us. No matter what the jam or peanut butter, it always was a winning formula of flavors and tastes that hit the spot and fueled us for many more hours of playtime. And lastly: there was no waste or maintenance to deal with when the meal was over. You simply ate the whole sandwich, and that was it. There was no more sandwich to worry about. Watermelon and popsicles on the other hand always seemed to have wrappers, or rinds, or some sort of waste that mom would constantly remind us to properly dispose.

There was no question to my young mind on what was the perfect summer meal. The answer was very simple. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The most magical, delicious, convenient, and absolute pinnacle companion to a hot summer day accompanied with good, sticky fun!