Fish stick sandwiches..... comfort food!!

When I was a kid and was making my own lunches at home during the summer months,  I loved to make a fish stick sandwich with a side of corn on the cob.  Now I would use two slices of wheat bread (not realizing that there would be those today who would say, "Too much Gluten"),  I would slather on some mayonnaise (that's right, not tarter sauce, my choice I don't know why,  I like them both),  lettuce to make it a little more healthy and a hefty dose of pepper.  You may ask why pepper?  When you are the smallest of three boys (notice I didn't say youngest) you learn to adapt to your environment to survive.  When I was young my brothers and dad would constantly steal food off my plate (especially french fries.) One day I was experimenting with seasonings and added a little pepper to my tater tots.  The reaction from my brothers was priceless.  They couldn't imagine anything grosser.  So unlike Pavlov's Dog I taught them to react to my bell (adding pepper to my food) with negative consequences instead of positive reinforcement.  They never touch my food again.  I learned to like pepper on everything.
   The corn?  Well, you just can't go wrong with corn on the cob in any situation (unless you have loose dentures.) This combination satisfied me every time.  When I left home and went to dental school I stopped making this meal.  I got married, had kids and spent the next three decades trying different wraps, burritos, salads, rice bowls etc, etc,...
  Last month Julie went to New Orleans with her daughter for a weekend.  I was alone and decided I would try that again.  I turned on the television found an Angel game and made dinner.  It was glorious!!  I consider myself a self taught chef (my daughter Mary is a Culinary Institute of America graduate and way above me in any culinary competition, but I am pretty good!) I can make a Hollandaise Sauce that would make you believe you were wearing Dutch shoes, I can make a Cactus salad that would have you think you are in the state of Aqua Caliente and I can make a Canadian dish of Poutine that you would love to "Put In" your mouth.
   All of this being said, why would such a simple dish from my childhood bring me so much happiness.  I was literally moaning from how good it tasted and made me feel.  As I reflected on my carbohydrate high, I started to realize how good I had life during the summers when I was a teenager.  There was no school, if there was it was band camp (and you know what happens at band camp!)
I worked part time at my dad's office or at McDonald's, but it wasn't bad.  Once I clocked out that was that.  No one called me about a toothache or whether or not there was an employee issue, no call from an accountant. You get it, I had the least amount of responsibility and that was great.  There was fun.  I went to the beach every week, played intellivision with friends,  saw a movie or went to an Angel game.  Life was very simple and very good.  I miss that feeling.
  What I feel now is the need to be productive, to take care of others.  I have that constant need to serve.  I believe that once I became a father the needs of others became more important than my needs.  Now that my kids are grown and independent  I still feel the need to take care of other people and/or keep being productive. I would say that a good analogy is that I'm in the fast lane on the freeway and I don't know how to get off and slow down.  I guess eating fish stick sandwiches is a way of taking my foot off the pedal!