"Miss Wilma's Tomato Sandwiches'

This is a repost from 2011 when this posting got large readership.  So with lots of new readers I thought I would post it again as tomato sandwich season is upon us as I should pick my first homegrown tomato later this week.
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This has absolutely nothing to do with investing, but I do not care since this is more important in my opinion:)

I do not remember the exact moment of my first tomato sandwich, but I expect it came sometime around the age of 7 or 8 when I was old enough to go into the garden in back of our house on Hargett Street in Richlands NC and pick a tomato for myself. What I do know is that once I got one in my mouth it was love at first bite and I have never missed a summer without as many as I could devour. Before weight became an issue it was not uncommon for me to eat 3 sandwiches at one meal with the accompanying summer vegetables of butter beans, okra, and corn etc. You can have your sophisticated dining and high end places, but if I had a choice of any meal on earth this would be it. Two slices of good bread, some Duke's mayonnaise, several pieces of freshly cooked bacon, salt and pepper, and some HOMEGROWN tomatoes. Folks this is just good eating.

Back to Hargett Street and "Miss Wilma's Tomato Sandwiches". I call them that because the lady who came over to help my mother "keep house", (that is what is was called in those days), called them that. My mother opened a beauty shop starting sometime late in the 1930"s ( first feminist my friends ) and about the time I was old enough to eat tomato sandwiches had enough business she needed help around the house. I forgot the lady's name now, but I know she said more than once that Miss Wilma could have all the Toot n Tell It ( local drive in ) hot dogs she wanted, but the days she was there to clean there had better be some of "Miss Wilma's tomato sandwiches" for lunch. You see even then back in the early 1960's we in Richlands already had crossed the racial divide because the cleaning lady was black and she ate what we ate, and sat at the table where we sat. If there is one thing blacks and whites agreed on then and now in the South that nothing beats a tomato sandwich for a good summer meal. Cheap, easy to make, and the ingredients could be gotten locally. The important thing here is the HOMEGROWN tomatoes. None of that store bought stuff comes close to the flavor of growing your own tomatoes. I say that because some of you Yankees who have migrated down to the South need to know there is a difference. You can not find these babies in a store, so if you want to partake of this delicacy, either grow your own or find a friend who grows them.

I believe tomato sandwiches are God's gift to Southern culture, much like North Carolina BBQ is the holy grail of food here. I remain convinced that the Civil War ended in April 1965 when the Confederate soldiers opined that why should they stay and fight the damn Yankees, when it was planting season down home and soon there were tomato sandwiches to be had. Makes sense to me anyway. Nothing hold Southerners together like good food and tomatoes sandwiches are something all "real Southerners: can agree on.

Anyway here I sit June 9, 2011 and I have just picked my first two HOMEGROW tomatoes and a tomato sandwich is a day or so away as the tomatoes finish ripening on my counter. So as I take that first bite the next day or two I believe it remain blessed, as other "real Southerners" do that I was first introduced to tomato sandwiches and I get to relive that moment again. Thank you "Miss Wilma" for what I about to enjoy and I remember you and the wonderful gift you gave me in "Miss Wilma's Tomato Sandwiches".