Well, I Guess You Can Learn Something New Every Day
I know this is a phrase we have all heard too many times, but it does ring true for me. Today, many thanks to fellow #RRBC author Shirley Harris-Slaughter, I learned my posts did not include any hashtags, which helps pull more readers to my blog. Frankly, WordPress has a place to list hashtags, and I do put them there, but apparently they are not where they need to be. I guess I can take the rest of the day off now. I learned my new thing for the day. Thank you, Shirley!
Yesterday’s lesson took a bit more time. While I was married, I was the resident chef. I cooked most of the meals for the family. I learned to cook from watching my grandmother in the kitchen. She and I had a special relationship. Watching her taught me so much about food. Later, I began to watch cooking shows and collected cookbooks. I was lucky to never have any fear of cooking. My grandmother and those TV chefs made everything look so easy. I just expected it to be simple, and that was that. Not everyone is like me, for sure.
Aida has a special sense of taste. She is one of those people who can tell how much salt is in food by just sniffing it. I can smell herbs and spices, but saltiness has always required the taste-test for me. She never did much cooking, and she has a fear of screwing everything up. I have told her, like I told my son, “It’s just food. Don’t worry about it.”
Yesterday, she asked me to make chicken soup. She would take notes on what I did. Next time, she wants me to watch as she prepares the same thing. She took more than a page of notes. It shows how our life experiences have led us in different directions, at least as far as cooking is concerned. I think I already knew that, but it was abundantly clear last night.
On the other hand, she can make the most beautiful bows and wrap presents to look like a million bucks in the blink of an eye. She is a balloon artist and florist. I feel like a caveman beating on a big rock with a little stone while she easily creates things of beauty. We are all so different, and that is wonderful.
It is those differences between us that make life so amazing. I cannot imagine a world where most people were like me. Yikes! Our diversity makes us powerful. Where I fail, others will flourish. Where I find things simple, others will see only complexity. It is an amazing world, and I embrace it. Unfortunately, not everyone is so benign. I suppose we must suffer the fools while we cling to those who enlighten and fulfill us.
Learn something new today. What have you got to lose, except a bit of fear. All the best.
Great post, Karl! I especially love your statement, “Our diversity makes us powerful.” How true that is! We can learn so much from each other.
Blessings,
Patty
Patty, I am not a big fan of all the diversity stuff that’s traveling around today. However, Aida is a Mexican lady. I have spent my life with her family. Their perspectives in life are no different than mine, although their pasts are not at all similar. I think all people want the same things: a happy life, a loving family, and some security for their lives. Those desires transcend international borders.
Nicely said, Karl!
Karl, I swear I made a reply to this post last night, but it is not here, so … I love that you and Aida are so different, but complimentary, and that you relish those differences! Sounds like a perfect match!
Maura, the differences have their ups and downs. She was raised in Mexico at a time when public schools teachers were still nuns. The cultural differences and our life experiences give us very different outlooks on many things. Still, we work our way through that for the right reasons. In other words, I do not know if any match is perfect, but thanks for the thought. I would not have things any other way.
If we never failed at anything, I think that celebrating success would be less fun.🤷♀️
Karen, that’s totally true. Remember the old adage: Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his head out. Life has its ups and downs. Overall, I think we all turned out okay.
I hate cooking. I cook out of necessity, not out of enjoyment. Lol! I, too, love to celebrate the diversity of the human race. How boring we would be if we were all the same. Great post, Karl!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Yvette, I learned to love cooking when I was just a young boy. I still love it, but don’t create the things I used to. My diet is pretty mundane these days. When I get to make something different, I have a great time. Too bad you didn’t get the cooking bug. To add a point on the diversity topic, Aida and her family are Mexican. After all these years, I am fairly fluent in Mexican Spanish, but don’t test me on it, okay?
I love that you clarify Mexican Spanish. There are so many dialects to Spanish. Thank you for that. 🙂
Yvette, I live in the Mexican Spanish world. We have been to Spain, where the lisp is the thing. I could not understand a word, although Aida was fine. My favorite memory was in Rome. She went to get some blessings from the Pope for her Catholic relatives. I watched in amazement as she spoke Spanish, the storekeeper spoke Italian, and they both understood each other perfectly. Wow! What a shock.
Very cool! 🙂
So true, Karl! Diversity is the spice of life, to continue the cooking analogy. I like to cook but I like to bake even more. My mother was perhaps the worst cook in the world. She thought that it was progress when Hamburger Helper and Rice-a-Roni were invented. I don’t cook as much now that it’s just the two of us these days. I really loved this post.
Thank you, Wanda. I used to cook and bake just about anything. When married, I was focused on making dinner. My desire to bake fell away. I can still make a mean banana bread, using a recipe I was given by a friend in the late 70s. I too don’t do as much cooking either. It’s hard to cook for one when you’re used to making dinner for two adults and two ravenous teens. Back then, the groceries vanished like magic! My big triumphs were when I made Thanksgiving dinners for the family and my wife’s extended relations. We had 30 or 35 people for those. It was grueling work, but I loved it nonetheless.
It’s sweet the way you and your wife complement each other with your differences.
Thank you, Susanne. We do our best to accept our differences. As they say, love conquers all.
Hi, Karl,
I like that you said that you embrace the world. Embracing is like accepting that no one else is going to be like you and you will see the world out of a different pair of glasses and that’s okay. It is expected and accepted.
Shalom Aleichem
Karl, I’m so happy that you finally get the hashtags the @ symbol, and where they need to be placed. There are still members who still haven’t gotten it. It’s pointless to post anything, if you are unaware that you will be lucky if anyone outside of your subscribers will see it.
I do appreciate that you pointed that out to me, Shirley. I guess an old man can learn something new from time to time.