13 October 1996

Totally Nebraska

My grandmother lived in a small farming community in the bluff country of Nebraska. Everyone there had known her all their lives and, when she died, the neighboring families took turns cooking meals for my grandfather in the weeks following.

I went back for the funeral and saw this hospitality first hand. One evening at dinner, I commented to a nice young woman who had just brought over a dish: “Gee, we never have casseroles, and now I’ve had three in the last two days.”

“Oh — doesn’t your wife cook?”