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My Mother's Only Child. Meatloaf

     I was recently thinking of a recipe for meal prep this upcoming week. My mother always made her meatloaf a certain way. Ingredients included Seasoned salt, black pepper, eggs, ground meat, ketchup, bell peppers and onions. So of course, as my parent, she taught me to cook her way but as the years went by, I would add my own ingredients as well. For instance, crumbled crackers or corn flakes acted as a binder while a teaspoon of sugar and salsa was the additional flavor to my mixture.  

    The same can go for the way I was raised to go through private schools, college and to get a full-time job to settle for and then retire. But no lol, I switched it up a bit. Because my mother put me in private schools most of my youth while financing it completely by herself, I was exposed to people with different options in life. Rich kids, poor kids, middle class kids, White and Black kids all had different views and religions than mine. Everyone competed for the next thing. Honestly that type of environment of competition to be better than before stayed with me, even now.  Instead of the formula of school + college + job+ marriage+ kids= life, I switched it up and went to college, switched to a different one, took a gap year, worked, went back to school earned undergraduate degree. I worked for many startup companies and enjoyed my 20s without the hassle of settling down for anything. Later I went to grad school, earned my first master's degree, received a scholarship to study for my 2nd MA while living abroad. It created a path filled with international life experiences that nobody I knew ever achieved outside of few friends and family members in the military. 

    Just like my mom's meatloaf recipe, I took what I was taught and expanded it to fit my needs. That is what Life is all about. Take the basics, get educated about the variety of ingredients, learn even more, and continue to research until you get the final product that YOU are happy with. Then serve, period.


Sincerely,

Sherri M Littleton

My Mothers Only Child. 

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