I was around 5 years old when i first realized my parents were hiding something from me.
At night i would take a bath, and my mom would pronounce me “squeaky clean” when i was finished. For proof, she would rub some of my wet hair together between her fingers and it would squeak. I loved it.
One evening, before my bath, i was decidedly not squeaky clean. To prove it, i dunked my head, said something to my mom about not being squeaky clean yet, and rubbed my hair between my fingers… and it squeaked.
I didn’t have words for it then, but i remember the feeling. At first i was shocked, then confused. Then comprehension that wet hair squeaked whether it was clean or not. Realization that it was a ploy to get me to take a bath and that it wasn’t true at all.
I don’t remember discovering that Santa wasn’t real. I was told from an early age that he was just make-believe. Realizing that “squeaky clean” didn’t mean anything was my Santa-equivalent revelation that parents sometimes tell you things that aren’t true.
On Saturday, i had the privilege to volunteer with 
Station 1 was where the ingredients were bagged. Soy, rice, dried vegetables and a protein pellet all went into a plastic bag. One volunteer manned each ingredient and one manned the bag. The bag is placed under the funnel and all the ingredients are tossed into the funnel. Once we had a binful of bagged meals, a runner would grab the bin and take it to the next station. This was really simple, and the assembly-line nature of it with all the volunteers (we had about 25 show up) makes it possible to really bag a lot of meals quickly.
Station 2 was the weighing and sealing station. Each meal from the previous station is weighed, and rice is added or subtracted until it falls within a certain weight range. Then the sealers have a device that clamps down and heats the plastic to seal it.
