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November 24, 2005
Life : Good memories
Overall, I had a happy childhood. Not an idyllic 50's sitcom childhood - my parents and sibling were normal human beings with normal faults; and their faults did on occasion affect my life in ways which had adverse consequences. I do not however subscribe to the popular notion that anything less than a perfect family is "dysfunctional". I have seen true, dysfunctional families and know the difference. No, my childhood was overall a good one and I am, to use the word of the day, thankful for my parents and how they raised me. Given that, I choose when I think of them to dwell on those occasions when they "got it right" rather than when their humanity failed me.
One such occasion was thanksgiving when I was, I think, 8 years old and my brother was 15. That thanksgiving my parents had the two of us, with substantial adult supervision, cook the thanksgiving meal, from starters to dessert. I'm not sure where they got the idea to do this; but it remains one of my favorite memories from childhood. The reasons were manifold – being able to do something so "adult" when I was only 8, being able to spend that time working together with my parents on a project (something I experienced more of later in life; but at the time it was novel), being able to experience directly the fruits of a job well done (eating the meal I had just cooked). In addition, the process got me comfortable with the process of cooking, so that when I was in my teens and both of my parents had full-time jobs, I was able to cook the family dinner on occasion.
As I recall, my brother and I did the whole dinner at least one more time after that, and even when my mother re-assumed primary responsibility, we always had at least some role in preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Perhaps more important, we become more involved in cooking other meals as time went by; but nothing compared to the memory of the first time we did it.
Thanks.
Posted by Steven at November 24, 2005 06:55 PM
