My maternal grandmother is pretty cool. She was raised in Southern Louisiana by her French mother and Spanish father, and spoke French as her native language until she attended school and learned to speak English. For those of you who have heard a true Cajun accent, hers comes rather close but isn't as thick as you might expect for someone who didn't speak English from the start.

She had 6 children, though one died at 3 months of age from spinal meningitis, and all of her surviving children had children as is the way of things. She has a total of 11 grandchildren, of which I am the oldest.

I have many memories of lunchtime at Granny's house. In particular, I remember sandwiches the most. Assorted siblings and cousins and I would sit around various parts of the kitchen as my grandmother passed out our grub. She'd cut the sandwiches into triangles, and as we began to eat, she'd yell repeatedly to us, "Eat the points!" (My mother says that this pattern of behavior started long before grandchildren came along.)

Here's the problem with eating the points. When half of your sandwich has 3 points at the onset, you then have to choose one with which to start. Okay, no big deal. However, once you take your first bite, you then create two new points from which to choose. If you eat either of those two points, it creates four. Soon, you have a half of a sandwich with nothing but points everywhere, and with your grandmother screaming "Eat the points!" while you continue to make your choices, it can be an undaunting and overwhelming affair.

It's no wonder I have food issues.

|