Liverwurst and Spearmint Tea

My daughter Norah said, “Well, Bompa, mom brought spearmint from our garden into my classroom, and then we did science with it.  We are trying to grow roots from some cuttings.”

Dad said this via speaker phone:

Oh Norah, let me tell you something about spearmint!  When I was growing up we had a bunch of spearmint growing wild in our ditch.  We didn’t know you could make anything with it.  We just mowed it.  It always smelled really good.  Well, we had these neighbor kids, Francis and Roy.  Their mom was from Germany.  One day she came and knocked on our door and, in kind of a shy way, asked if she could have a little bit of that spearmint from our ditch.  “Oh, sure!” my mom said.   “Take it all.  Put it in a wheelbarrow.  It’s yours.”

Francis and Roy’s mom from Germany made her own liverwurst.  At her house she gave us liverwurst sandwiches on homemade bread and mint tea to drink.  I didn’t necessarily like liverwurst, but I went along with it because of the concept.  There was something magical about the way she put it all together.  I mean, she got that mint from our ditch, and then made tea out of it?  Come on!  It was compelling, like a Rod Serling script.  She even spoke with an accent.  Woohoo.