Reflection...34º

I look back now and wonder what my qualifications were for this job...My cooking experience was limited to home cooking for a family of four, along with holiday dinners for family and guests...I had started married life about 15 years previous, knowing how to make a meat loaf, boil potatoes and open a jar of my mothers home canned green beans...A Better Homes and Gardens cook book, received as a wedding gift was my teacher, and I learned from it how to make bread, pies, cakes and cook a roast...I still have and use this cook book, although many of the pages are smeared with batter and grease and others are falling out...Did home cooking give me the skills to succeed at this job?..Time would tell.

I like to think that the work ethic instilled in me, growing up on a farm, was probably my best qualification...Also the two years spent on the "potato digger" was a wake up call that there had to be a better way to bring home some extra money and I was determined to make this job work...No other jobs in the county had hours where I could be home when our kids arrived home from school as well as having the summers off...I didn't have to be told that I had lucked out!

After a few weeks on the job, the dish washer wasn't so daunting, the trays no longer piled up, the bread mixer became my new best friend and quit spewing flour in all directions...I was up to any challenge that Margaret threw my way and I could relax a bit and watch what was going on around me, and anticipated what needed to be done, without being told...Occassionally that got me in to trouble but not often...I overheard a conversation one day when Margaret was asked, "How is the new cook doing?"...Her answer, "She is a gem," had me beaming with pride, until she added, "Actually a diamond in the rough."...Hugs to All...OWAV:)