A PBandJ Life

Peanut Butter and Jelly. Kind of a regular, bland sandwich. I was not raised on PB and Js. Most days, we ate summer sausage on wheat bread. I enjoyed an occasional PB and J, but wasn't thrilled with a diet of PB and J. Well, early this week I declared to the kids that we are going to have PB and J once a week. Historically, my lunches have been lackluster (I think that is one word). I get in a rut and when I need to prepare lunch every day I get overwhelmed by the monotony. More specifically, the rut comes from my need to have variety in our lunches. That's kind of crazy: the rut of variety. I guess when I prepare lunches I'm looking for the 'wow' factor. I don't know why, it's just lunch!


Back to PB and Js. As I was making them for our weekly quota, I was thinking how beautifully simple they were to make. Jelly is sweet and goes very well with the nuttiness of peanut butter. I use wheat bread and this day the loaf was new, so the bread hadn't begun to dry out. I was looking at these beautiful sandwiches and thought how my life ought to resemble these sandwiches. A little bit of sweet spread smoothly along with the salty and savory. Nothing complicated. PB and Js are not complicated, yet they are complex in what they offer: sweet, savory, and satisfying.


The saying goes, "variety is the spice of life." Who ever said that must have forgotten about peanut butter and jelly. Variety in harmony with uniformity. PB and J can have variety...change the jelly with honey or banana. Change the peanut butter for chunky or natural. Change the bread with crusty french. Add chips or fruit....the combinations are endless, but the sandwich is the same.

I don't know where I am going with this thought, but because of PB and J I am reminded that my regular life of taking care of my husband, children and home is a good life. Full of variety in harmony with uniformity. The same yet different everyday. Just like PB and J.