Beech Tree News Network

Twice in the past two weeks, I asked my daughter, Natalie, to bring home sandwich bread.  Twice, she brought home loaf bread.  The third time, I sent her a text describing sandwich bread: Please bring home sandwich bread…it is in a king size bag…the edges are squared off, not rounded.  She texted back:  I know what bread is!  She brought home another bag of loaf bread.
    I made the comment to my husband, Garey, I had failed to get across to Natalie the difference between loaf and sandwich bread.
    “What are you talking about?” he asked
    “You know, loaf bread is rounded off and has wide crust, and sandwich bread is squared off and has thin crust,” I said.  “Everything fits better on sandwich bread and Sabria (our granddaughter) doesn’t waste as much bread when she pulls the crust off.”
    “Bread’s bread,” Garey said.
    When I tried to explain the difference to Natalie, she also said, “Bread’s bread.”
    Their comments didn’t surprise me.  There are three types of people in the world.  The first group notices every detail about everything—that would be my group.  The second group believes details are made to be ignored—that would be Garey’s and Natalie’s group.  The third group is somewhere in the middle—that would be the group I envy.  Never the first two groups shall meet or if they do, they won’t be buying the same kind of bread.
    I’ve told you before that Garey considers me a paragon for the story of the princess and the pea.  Because he views me that way, I often keep my mouth shut about things I notice or stuff that drives me crazy.  I’ve always been sensitive to the fact that Garey grew up with a father who over-reacted to the least little thing, and the worst insult he can ever dish out is calling me J.D. Hughes, which he has done a few times in the past. 
    Garey’s  dad, J.D., was one of those people who noticed every little thing, usually for the purpose of pointing out to you what you didn’t notice or letting you know that he wasn’t happy with what he noticed that you didn’t notice.  He and my stepmom (during my growing up years; she has changed dramatically over time) were examples of people I never wanted to be, and when your actions are based on a negative instead of a positive, it will make you a little crazy.
    My oldest sister, Marsha, is a detail person like I am.  We have discussed the fact that we are not only detail-oriented, but also hyper-vigilante about our surroundings and the happiness of people in our surroundings and the worry over how people in our lives view us.   We grew up in a world in which “If the stepmom ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”   We have summed up our childhoods into one question, “Should I wash the coffee pot?”
 When we lived on Ashes Creek, my mom worked with my dad at the sawmill.  When we got home from school, it was our job to clean up the breakfast and lunch dishes and start supper.  If the coffee pot was half-full or more with coffee, Mom wanted us to leave it in order for her to warm over the coffee for later.  If it was less than half-full, we were to throw it out.  We could never get it right.  If we threw out the coffee and washed the pot, we were fussed at for making the wrong call: “Why did you throw out the coffee, I was looking forward to a cup!” she would fuss.  If we left the coffee, we were accused of being too lazy to wash the coffee pot.  Living like that on a daily bases makes you pay attention to detail.
    While I was finishing this column, Garey called and asked me to get into his pickup and drive down to the bottoms.  His big blue tractor and bush hog was stuck.  We got the backhoe, and I helped pull him out.  When it comes right down to it, it really doesn’t matter whether you prefer loaf or sandwich bread.  It just matters who you’re eating your daily bread with.