The Lesson of the Baked Potato

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2015

The Lesson of the Baked Potato

Yes, I know that this photo is not a baked potato! It is a ceramic server for butter or sour cream for putting on baked potatoes. My daughter made it in ceramic classes she took in upper elementary school. It survived the move from Bridgewater to Stow. I can't seem to throw it out. I do like sour cream on my baked potato.

I was telling hubs what it is like to be a pre-teen girl since he doesn't have sisters he doesn't know how girls don't have the freedom that boys have enjoyed since they were old enough to ride a bike out of the driveway and out of sight of their mother. Girls are expected to be accounted for when their mother is a stay at home mom or even if she works out of the home. For obvious reasons, girls are watched.

When I was old enough to be home alone after school, I would say when I was in 7th grade, my non working mother with a bachelor's degree often went with my grandmother (or by public transit) for shopping trips. The best excuse she had for going out was to get her hair done. She was not only obsessed with her hair, her BFF was often her hair stylist. It was a life-long problem for my mother since she gave up driving when she married. My dad took her car to work and he sold his car to his brother. We had a one car garage.

Frequently, I would find a hand written note in the kitchen telling me (over and over) the directions for putting the baked potatoes in the oven for supper. My mother was not good at remembering her cooking responsibilities even if she was home. So, this job of the daily potato cooking defaulted to me.

I am a much more structured and responsible person than my mother. She did not like cooking and the amount of time it took out of her day. If my dad went to play golf or visit his sister my mother was thrilled. No supper!

Each day, when I turn on the stove to make supper, I think of this simple lesson of responsibility. Structuring my "genealogy" day is not a struggle for me unless I get interrupted by shopping or appointments. I tease hubs that I have always had dinner ready or a plan to get takeout or dinner out in all the years we have been married.

It is about responsibility and time management. I have always worked. My mother told me I would "get over that working stuff". Didn't she listen to her own lesson?  You have to wonder. I think that's a generation gap between the women of the '40s and '50s and the women of the '60s and beyond. 

What do you think about this? Can you remember to bake the potatoes?