Drucilla’s Little Helpers - Southern Bologna Sandwich from 1964

It’s good to be back here writing. These “stays at the Bed and Breakfast” (another word for hospital, which is short for hospitality) are getting to be a little much for my body. I have AFIB and have had 3 heart shocks since May 27.
But let’s all thank Clarissa, my editor, for filling in for me. She did great!
She gave us a delicious-looking picture of her grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup and a great play-by-play of slinging tomatoes and carrots around the kitchen. Been there, done that.
I have been wanting a good ole Southern bologna sandwich, especially when tomatoes are homegrown. I was in Crossville a few weeks ago and I went into this business where I like to shop. They have a sandwich shop in the corner. There was a bologna sandwich on their menu.
It was a sign from above.
I ordered said sandwich with mayo and tomatoes. When I got it, there was ground-up bologna heaped on bread, with mayo and tomato. I tried to bite into it.
Who stole the bologna and heaped it up with a taste I didn’t recognize? It was ground up, but the seasonings didn’t even resemble potted meat.
Here is your recipe if you want a true Southern bologna sandwich like we grew up with in Monterey during the 1960s. On school final test days, we would go across the railroad tracks in front of MHS to Hollis McCloud’s little store and get a fresh-sliced bologna sandwich.
Southern Bologna Sandwich from 1964
Ingredients
2 slices white bread
 Enough mayonnaise to enjoy
 1 large, thick slice of tomato
 1 thick or thin slice bologna, your preference
Directions
Spread mayo on 1 slice of bread.
Place bologna on bread, then tomato slice.
Spread mayo on other slice of bread.
Place on top of this.
Then sit on the porch of the store and enjoy your sandwich along with a 5-cent Coke and a 5-cent Moon Pie or Hostess Sno Ball.
That will do wonders for final test day.
Since I came home Friday from the hospital, I have done a lot of sleeping and resting. It feels like exhaustion, but I did venture out with my daughter yesterday to pick up 3-year-old Jaxson. I needed a visit to help me feel better.
While I was lying on the couch, he would come over for a hug and just to touch my arm or hand, or he just needed a hug. That was a comfort.
I think my role as great-grandmother is different than the role my daughter has. She can still get down on the floor and play. If I do that, I will have to find something else to do while I am down there.
You can see that I was ready for some comfort.
In the picture I made for this column are my things that I am needing for comfort for now. My bologna sandwich, my great-grandchildren and that little pink Hostess Sno Ball.
What says comfort better than a “Hostess”?
The towel that I spread out for the picture is from a friend, Debby, also a widow and from Arkansas. She is with Carol McLeod Ministries. I have known her by talking with her since George passed in January 2021. We had never met face to face, but she came to Tennessee and we arranged a meeting.
Written on the towel are these words: “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25.
All this is another story for a future column.
I need to grab a little rest and comfort by eating my comfort foods.
By the way, to all of my students I had in my nutrition classes for 30 years, you may remember what I said about these comfort foods.
We called them “sometimes foods.”
If you have a recipe to share or a question, you may call 931-510-1349 or email me at raydrucilla@gmail.com.
Thank you, readers, for your prayers, thoughts, and well wishes.