When I was 11, I threw a glance into Dad's lunch box and made the unexpected discovery that my mother still showed her love towards my father. The evidence, a napkin resting on top of the sandwiches packed in wax paper, was certain "Love you!" she had written on the napkin. " Meat loaf for supper!" 

Mom penned all kinds of messages to Dad on those paper napkins, and he saved a whole pile of them. What embarrassed me as a kid has become a precious memory of my parents. 

It also started my own brand of lunch box notes. When my kids were young, I'd glue little drawings on their lunches. Lots of sketches of our dog, Max, along with smiling flowers. When they were teenagers, I'd copy words of wisdom from great people, Einstein, for example, or Bruce Springsteen. Then, my kids grew up making their own handwritten notes. And my husband writes me love notes on recycled paper, because he's all about being green. 

Friends who know about my lunch box notes eagerly share stories of their own family traditions. So many focus on food. Maura's mom always drew hearts on the shells of hard-boiled eggs. Melinda wrote messages on her kids' bananas. 

We're into the third generation of lunch box notes in our home. Whenever my 3-year-old grandson, Clayton, spends the night, he knows his lunch is going to have a napkin note from Grandma in the morning. Last week, I drew a picture of me, waving widely and shouting his name. He took one look at it and screamed, " Where's Grandpa?" I added a man in a clean shirt. " You forgot his tie," he said. I quickly drew a line of stripes down the front of the shirt. Clayton smiled. "Grandpa," he whispered, running his fingers across the napkin. "It's you!" QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. How old was the narrator when they discovered something unexpected?
2. What was the narrator's age when he made a surprise discovery?
3. 
Q2:
1. What did the narrator's mom use to write notes to his dad?
2. What material did the author's mom write messages to his father on?
3. 
Q3:
1. Did the narrator begin at some point to write lunchbox notes?
2. Did the narrator take up writing notes in their kids lunch?
3. 
Q4:
1. What would I make sketches of?
2. What would my lunchbox art depict?
3. 
Q5:
1. What is the name of the narrator's grandson?
2. Who is the author the grandfather of?
3. 
Q6:
1. How old is Clayton?
2. What is Clayton's age?
3. 
Q7:
1. Whose words of wisdom would the narrator include in his notes?
2. Who was one person the narrator would quote in his notes?
3. 
Q8:
1. What was a sustainable material used to write notes on?
2. What did someone write notes on that was good for the environment?
3. 
Q9:
1. What did the narrator forget to include in a picture of himself, causing his grandson to think the drawing was not of him?
2. What was lacking in a drawing of the narrator, leading Clayton to think it wasn't of his grandpa?
3. 
Q10:
1. What meal did the narrator's mom inform his dad of via note?
2. What did the narrator's mother tell his father they were having for dinner in a note?
3. 
