Why I do the things I do....

I come from generations of women that "feed you." I remember as a small child going to Grandma Short's house, and as soon as you got there, you went to the kitchen, she took the dishcloth covering the leftover food on her table off and you sat down and ate.

There was always cornbread and biscuits, beans, pickles, leftover meat, usually fried, and some sort of dessert on her table. Remember, my Grandma had no electricity, so when she finished a meal she didn't put the leftovers in the fridge, there was no fridge, except for the "icebox" and it wasn't in use daily, only when my Uncle would bring a block of ice from the ice house in town to put in it to chill the food would she use it.

So she just covered everything and left it on the table. I know, this must sound so alien to all of you and you are wondering how she kept things cold that normally would be refrigerated. Oh this sounds so Little House on the Prairie, but she would put things that had to stay cold in a bucket and lower it into a well.

But think about it, they lived on a farm, she had cows and fresh milk daily, she churned butter every other day, so refrigeration wasn't necessary. She gathered eggs daily, she would kill and dress a chicken, then cook it immediately, the pork that was butchered was cured and hung in the smokehouse. It wasn't like it is today.

But back to the feeding part. My Aunts always fed me when I visited them, much like Grandma did, and Mother would always bring some type of food when she came to visit us. The boys knew when Grandma drove up there would be food in the car of some sort. I find myself feeding people,too. Not to the extent that Mother and Grandma did, but I'm always pushing food onto somebody.

Take this evening for instance, Trish and I went for a ride on Milly. I cored an apple, split it in the middle, wrapped each half in paper towel, and gave Trish half of it to eat. She wasn't hungry, she put it in Milly's cup container, and when I dropped her off at her house, she forgot to pick it up.

Now here's where the difference comes in. If this had been Mother, when she got home and discovered the apple Trish forgot, she would promptly go back to her house and give it to her.

What did I do? I ate it, I ATE IT!!!! Well I thought about taking it back to her, really I did and I did email her and tell her I ate it...

~ jan, feeling just a smidge guilty...