What Skills Have You Learned?

I've heard that since the Pandemic, many people decided to try new skills and hobbies to pass their time and try something different since they finally had time. I find that so awesome that people started learning new "old' skills that our grandparents did on a daily basis, like making bread. A bread machine is nice to have, but there's just something about getting your hands into the dough and connecting with the feel of the kneading process and knowing when the dough is "just right". What I do find interesting, though, is we have lost many of those skills our grandparents knew. How did we forget?

For me, I was groomed from a child on, to go to college, get a degree and find a good job. I wasn't interested in that though. I wanted to grow up, get married, have tons of kids and live on a farm. My parents, who both grew up on farms and knew how difficult that life could be, wanted something more for us. I was not taught the domestics when it came to cooking, canning and keeping a spotless house. My mother and grandmother did teach me knitting, embroidery and crochet, though.

In my mother's defense, she was not only taking care of us, but was taking care of her ailing parents as well as the chores on the farm. Dad would do the heavy stuff and take care of the equipment on the weekends and holiday/vacation time. She would do many of the things that needed done while we were at school or while we were in bed. She was exhausted and just didn't have time to teach and that was ok with me, since I was out working or playing on the farm any chance I could get.

I did the college scene but the dream of country life and family didn't go away. Working with computers had me exposed to the computer crowd and I ended up marrying someone who worked on and maintained the main frame. He, too, wanted to live in the country, but wanting and being able to were two different things. We prepared to get some property in the country. We saved and every time we were at the point where we could possibly do it, the prices went up and once again, things were out of reach. 

All was not lost, as we were both working on our skills - gardening, canning, preserving, raising chickens, fixing things on our own instead of tossing and buying or paying someone else to fix it, etc. During all this, we homeschooled our children and taught them the things we knew. Both kids turned out able to do many things - both are creative and they can fix many things around the house. And they both can cook - boy can they cook!!!

Each year, I try to add to my skills by learning something new. Our kids seem to be the same way. I see others around me doing the same thing. After lock-down, I wondered if people would just go back to their "normal" way of life, but those here that I know are still enjoying their new found skills and have made sure to make time to continue those skills. It makes me smile - it's so cool seeing others doing the things I enjoy and loving them like I do!