Chopsticks

When I was four years old, Mom, Jake and I lived in a little main floor apartment in a long line of big apartment buildings in Las Vegas.  We only lived there a short time so I have just four memories of the place: my dad helping us move there, the Mickey Mouse Show, Playdough, and Chinese food. 

The latter happened one evening, sitting around the little kitchen table as my mom tried to teach us how to eat with the funny sticks.  Ever since that day, I have always eaten Chinese food with chopsticks.  I like that it’s the traditional way to eat that type of food, and I also like that it’s a challenge to do it.

Because I was introduced to Chinese food, and taught how to use chopsticks at the same time, I figured that was the way you always ate it, and that everyone else used them too.  That is, until a few years ago, in a Chinese restaurant, where I had to ask for them after my food was served.  I was blown away.

Since then I have noticed that very few people actually use them.   Some people might try to use them for a few bites.  Some people might make comments about how it’s just too hard.  One friend recently asked me how to use them and said he’d never even tried before.  Wow.  If you don’t know how to use chopsticks, you are missing half the joy of eating Oriental food.

A few nights ago we had Chinese for dinner.  I’m the only one in the house that likes to eat it so we don’t make it very often.  When everything was ready, I looked around for some chopsticks but found only two sets.  The kids all said they just wanted one – as in one stick each (what you can do with only one chopstick is a mystery to me).   So, since we didn’t have enough for them to each have even just one, they all settled for two toothpicks each.  These they used to stab at the food.

As we ate, I remembered that little apartment in Las Vegas with just Mom and Jake and me.  Because I was fortunate to have lived in a lot of different places as a child, if I can remember where I lived, I can remember about how old I was.  It’s a great system for keeping track of, and accurately dating memories.  I was four years old then, the same age as the boy sitting next to me at the table, stabbing away at his sweet and sour chicken and rice.

Sometimes I wonder what my kids will remember from their childhoods.  I’m especially interested in finding out what their oldest memories will be.  Will those memories be the outings to the mountains or the amusement park?  Will they be big vacations to Disneyland or Yellowstone?  Or will that oldest memory be of something so common as sitting around the table, eating a meal together, tasting something new, and spending time as a family?

Today we need to go to the grocery store to buy some basics like diapers and bread.  I just added chopsticks to the list.