When my sister and I were little, our landlords would babysit the both of us overnight. It usually fell near the date of my parent’s wedding anniversary. We got to eat rice crispy treats that Mr. Brunner made for us, Mrs Brunner would be watching t.v. while Mr. Brunner would play UNO with us for hours or at least until bedtime.
My sister and I would wake up to the smell of waffles on the waffle iron and we would come to the kitchen where two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice were waiting for us. Mr. Brunner would check on the waffle and when it was done, he would split it down the middle so that we each had a hot piece of waffle to eat while he put more batter onto the iron. Meanwhile rye bread would pop out of the toaster and I would get to put margarine on the rye toast, one for my sister and one for me. I also put margarine on our waffles before pouring on the syrup. My sister and I thought that margarine was the cats meow since we never had it at home, I especially loved the saltiness of the margarine and how it made the rye toast taste, it even made the syrup taste better.
This wasn’t the only breakfast that we had at our landlord’s apartment, it was one of many. What made it my favorite was that each time was the same, the waffles were amazingly good, the rye toast slathered with margarine never grew old and the orange juice was always freshly squeezed. These breakfasts were special times shared by my sister and I with two lovely older people who genuinely cared for us and watched out for us everyday. We were really blessed when we moved into that two family house because not only were they kind and considerate landlords, they also acted like an additional pair of grandparents. That was a wonderful gift and my sister and I have the luxury of wonderful memories of our times spent with Mr. Brunner, eating his food, playing card games with him, learning how to do hook rugs and tending a vegetable garden. Not many landlords offer all that when they accept you as tenants.
laurieanichols 