So, I have baked a few treats but I wouldn’t say I’m know for my baking. In fact, I wouldn’t even say I enjoy baking but if I had to whip up something for this or that, I certainly could. I have a few tried and true family favorites. They tend to be things that are simple and require very little measuring or direction following (since I seem in capable of both).
I can knit, but I am in NO way a knitter. I look at the beautiful pieces my mom made and think that we’re probably not doing the same thing at all. I can knit a scarf and maybe a blanket (very simple one of course, once again with very little direction following). If my life depended on it, I probably could follow a pattern and make something a little more complicated than a scarf.
I can sew but I’m certainly not a seamstress. In fact, I think I have to get out the instructions to my sewing machine every time I need to mend anything. The fact that I have two sewing machines complicated the matter even more. Both of them I received from my mom who used to sew my clothes when I was young. My method of sewing now is taking things to my step-mom or I could probably take it to my mother-in-law. So far, this has worked very well and I’m good at asking for help.
I could play piano, flute and guitar. I have played the saxophone (a couple times) and could probably learn to play my daughter’s clarinet. The only thing I can still play is piano and not very many things nor very well. It didn’t matter how much I practiced or how many years I played, I was never a star, didn’t have that “natural” born talent.
I was an art major for half a second in college but I can’t draw, paint or sculpt anything recognizable. I think I painted a sunflower once that, in my opinion, looked nice enough (I wouldn’t call it fine art or anything). It wouldn’t be shown in a gallery or a studio and in fact, I don’t even have it displayed in my own home. My mother painted some beautiful paintings that hung in our home when I was growing up. They may not have been considered fine art either, but they were definitely worthy of displaying.
As I look at my life, I can say that my very talented mother exposed me to many thing and taught me many things. She taught me to bake (and I hate it). She taught me to knit, and I’m thinking I really don’t care for it either (being I’m not very good). She taught me to sew and (once again) I hate it. She got me piano lessons and flute lessons. She exposed me to a world of music. Though I love music, I never really loved playing though I do on occasion (it can be very therapeutic).
It used to pain me that I couldn’t do things as well as my mom. Here I am a “happy homemaker” and my mother worked full time. I can’t do many of the things my mom taught me that would be helpful as a homemaker. I don’t know that I would consider myself a master of most things in the home economics department.
Here’s the thing, I’m okay with all of that. I’ll probably never bake a masterpiece or knit a sweater, sew a quilt or paint a work of art. I do, however, have a happy home and try a few new things every year. I have my home filled with happy memories and I surround my family with loving, wonderful family and friends. Most of all, I teach my kids about God and His love. I teach them that boundaries are loving and I will love them all my life. I’ll expose them to new things and teach them the little I know about baking, sewing or knitting and what I don’t know about those things, I’ll try to learn from a friend or worst case scenario, I’ll Google it. The one thing I know how to do really well is ask for help!
Great perspective!
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