Tagen Kaestner

An Almond a Day

This is the story of how I unknowingly hurt a middle school friend who had lost her dad to cancer. Every Friday when I was in middle school, my classmates and I were allowed to sit anywhere we wanted in the lunchroom. Naturally, every Friday I chose to sit with my closest friends - a group of about 8 girls. I thought most of my friends were so cool because they would buy their lunch in the cafeteria, while I had to bring my lunch from home. I don't know how much other people remember middle school lunches, but to 12-year-old me, the thought of bringing a lunch that was homemade by my mom - ugh. My mom did try her best though and sometimes would even pack foods that I would actually eat - including almonds. Now at some point, my mother decided to alter the famous phrase "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and change it to "three almonds a day keeps the cancer away."