Find Your Own Way

Story telling is a big part of life in this area. The nearby college has a degree offered for it. One of the local communities hosts national festivals and a year round calendar of events at a Story Telling Center. So while growing up here, it was natural to learn things from sayings and stories.

My grandmother was both great and horrible at teaching us through two line quips. I always learned something, but only with the wisdom of an adult did I realize that the majority of the time she was probably actually intending for me to learn another lesson entirely. I did not understand I was not suppose to take her literally. Every time I spent time with her, I learned a new set of metaphors. I am still realizing the meaning of the things she has said.

When thinking of the stories my mother told me growing up, I only recall two. But she told them to me over and over and over and ….

“The Christmas Ham” – as told by my Mother.

I have tried looking for an original source to be able to share this story with you. But the stories get passed around and they get passed down. Details are changed somewhat making it harder to do an internet search for it. I will just tell it to you the way that it was told to me, and if anyone can point me to the origin of this story, I will offer proper credit.

There was a young wife preparing her first Christmas dinner.  Her groom came into the kitchen to admire her skill. She was not at all bothered until she went to prepare the Christmas ham.  She took out the butcher block. She took out the carving knife.  With swift skill she promptly cut two inches from each end of the ham and laid them aside as scraps for the hounds and for part to be used in a New Year’s stew.  Then she placed the ham into the pan and the pan into the oven.

Now the groom was a thinking and wondering man. He was very puzzled at what he had just seen done and also a little disappointed to see meat for many possible sandwiches put aside as treats for the dogs. He asked his bride why she cut so much good meat away.  She looked back at him to answer, and realized the only response she had was that her mother had always done the same. So the young couple called her mother and asked her why she always cut so much good meat away.  The mother, too, only could respond that the method was copied from the grandmother.

When the couple called the grandmother they were all quite tickled when she responded.  The grandmother laughed and laughed and laughed for the longest time before even being able to catch her breath long enough to give the answer. “The reason is simple”, she said. “I cut the end off of the ham every year to make it fit in my pan!”

The moral of the story is that while it is good for us to learn all we can from others, sometimes it is even better to question the methods and find our own way.

My Mother’s Second Saying.

The second story is actually a saying I am sure you have heard before. “Do not throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Your Way

So I wonder…  As you go around your home doing your routines, how many things do you do simply because you have not tried another way?

I mentioned the second saying because it made me think of a question for you, too.  When you come across methods from other people, do you dismiss everything because part of it does not work, or do you study it a bit longer to try to adapt it to work for you?