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| Kelly Combs, Author, Speaker, Mother and Chef. |
Lemonade Story by Kelly Combs:
“Whatcha doing?” my sister
asked, her standard phone greeting.
“Just making some
guacamole.” I answered.
“What? Why?” Her surprise
was natural.
Growing up with a mentally
ill mother, dinner was often McDonalds, when we were lucky. Other times it was a cold hotdog. I remember the night my mom made
macaroni and cheese. It was the
standard blue box variety, but she had forgotten to cook the noodles. As she stirred the sauce into the
crunchy uncooked noodles, she realized her mistake and said, “I messed up the
dinner, you’ll have to make yourself something to eat.” She then went to
bed. I was left staring into a
nearly empty refrigerator, and eating yet another cold hotdog for dinner.
Consequently, I've never
been good at "domestic" stuff like cooking, cleaning, decorating, and
crafting. Without training, I was challenged in these areas. So I decided to
embrace my non-domestic ways. Me? Cook? Ha, never. I am woman, hear me roar! I
became part of the feminist movement that says I don't have to do these things.
But then something changed.
I joined a cooking co-op.
If I would cook dinner just 1 night a week, for myself & three other
families, then 3 nights a week I would have dinner delivered to me by another
family. To someone who hated (aka can't!) cook this was a dream come true. What
happened next was truly a surprise.
I had to meal plan. We set
our co-op calendar 3 months at a time, so I had to pull out cookbooks and
select meals. Once the calendar was set, grocery shopping was easier. And once
I started putting some real effort into my cooking, the compliments (from my
own family AND the other three families) started coming in! Soon I was buying
fun kitchen gadgets (did I say fun and kitchen in the same sentence?)
I can honestly say now, I
am a good cook. I can meal plan. I just had to learn how. I'm still not the
best at decorating, but I am learning. This is especially important now that I
have two daughters of my own.
Titus 2:3-5 says we older
women are to teach the younger women to be "busy at home." That means
cooking, cleaning, meal planning, decorating. I was never taught. But rather
than carry on this omission, I am now teaching my children the joys of things
like cooking.
Imagine my delight, when
my then 4 year old came up to me with her baby doll and stroller in tow, and a
backpack full of plastic food. She said, "It's my cooking co-op day."
She's 6 now, and enjoys helping in the kitchen. She doesn't enjoy helping
unload the dishwasher, but I am training her none-the-less, so she will never
be domestically challenged like I was.
When I received a co-op
meal that included salad items including onions, tomatoes, cilantro and an
avocado, I decided to use the leftovers to make some home-made guacamole. That’s when my sister called.
“We may not have had the
best childhood,” I told her, “But I don’t have to hold onto those years as an
excuse not to learn basic domestic skills. I am no longer stunted by those years.”
“I’m really proud of you,”
she said. I smiled at her
encouragement, then held back my laughter as I told her, “When life gives you
avocados, make guacamole!”
Blog: www.chattykelly.com
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Twitter: www.twitter.com/kellycombs
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