Monday, August 17, 2009

lunchbox

When I was little, we had two tin lunchboxes in the basement that I could use to take to school. My big sisters were old enough to take their lunches in brown paper bags, but I was supposed to have a lunch box. They were tin, and I was the only student in my class who still used an old tin lunchbox. After recess, all the other kids would throw their lunchboxes down the parking lot and kick them all the way to the door where we lined up. But if I threw mine, it would pop open and make an awful racket.

Of the two lunchboxes we had, one was girly: strawberry short cake or something like that. The other was themed from this movie, and to me it was icky. It looked boy-ish and harsh, and I decided I hated it. I had no idea what the image was from, and only just now, finding this image-link on google, did I learn. It's funny because a few years later I became infatuated with the West, and would have loved it, if I had ever realized what it was.

Those lunch boxes would probably sell for $40 in some artsy store today. Too bad I banged it up on the concrete at Washington Elementary.

4 comments:

Robyn said...

I had a tin Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox! My mom still has it. Alas, I was probably also old enough to carry a brown paper sack when you had to take the old tin lunchbox to school. : )

Carol said...

I had that lunchbox in kindergarten as Washington Elementary too! I couldn't open it, always had to ask a teacher for help. I remember one of my classmates telling me it was an "old fashioned lunchbox - you could buy it at an antiques shop." Did you use the red plaid tin lunchbox too?

Briana said...

that's weird that everyone kicked their lunchboxes after recess. What a weird thing to do. I'm surprised the teachers let them, or their moms after the first day. Weird.

Jim and Julianna said...

what a great story, Kate! I had an old-fashioned gingham-lined lunch BASKET. With a handle and a lid with painted scenes of a girl and boy on a picnic. It was heavy. But very cute.