When I first saw this magazine I was completely and totally reminded of my "two" (cough, sputter) years attempting Home Ec in high school. Back in those days (I sound like my grandfather) Home Ec was a required course for all us adolescent females that were stereotyped into thinking that our goal in life was to make and bake everything from scratch and be doting wives and mothers. Boy did I have issues with that one! I was never one to follow...in fact I kept tromping over the leader to find a different path!
Like all young people I had "no clue" of who, or where, or what I was so how could I feel contentment in taking care of some hypothetical family! Besides, me cook...what's up with that? Heck my mother had tried for years to get me interested in cooking and if she couldn't how was some old fuddy-duddy in glasses and gray hair going to do it? Okay so I underestimated the fuddy-duddy...Mrs. Clemens (the Home Ec teacher) had an agenda...make Pam a "Happy Homemaker"....needless to say I was her first failure. She finally came to that conclusion after I had made two attempts (innocent attempts) to burn down the school and continuously sewed my fingers to my A-line skirt. I mean how hard is an A-line skirt anyway? Plus I started having my own designated chair at the emergency room! Band-aids had become a fashion statement for me so I color coordinated! At one point Mrs. Clemens tried to pawn me off to the Shop Class but the principal stepped in the way of that one feeling that with me in Shop the increase in accidents could triple and I would be the survivor! Needless to say I failed miserably at Home Ec and was giving a passing grade just to get me out of there.
Mrs. Clemens passed away a few years ago but before she died she sent me a letter with one of the copies of Better Homes and Gardens magazine that I'm in. She asked me to sign it and send it back to her....she wanted to brag to all her friends at the retirement home about me "Her One Big Success Story" and how proud she was of me! Funny thing is I still can't cook worth a lick and if you were to ask me to read a dress pattern I would blush and reply "sorry I can't sew"! Sorry Mrs. Clemens I'm still failing Home Ec but I wouldn't change a thing!
4 comments:
LOL!!! I loved home ec. I could sew really well, but not really interested in the cooking part. My Senior year, they let BOYS in the class! for the first time ever! THAT is when I had REAL fun! LOL!
Pam... it just proves that many roads lead to the same destination. Think about it... you may not be able to sew from a dress pattern (neither can I and I'm a quilter...go figure) but you do sew now. Plus look at all the creative ways you've been able to do things and you've been very successful. Let's face it sometimes in life one needs to think outside the box and you did that my friend. :)
Hugs,
Theresa
That's hilarious!! I remember my first meal in Home Ec, we called it "gunga," need I describe it??? LOL She always got so frustrated with me because I couldn't remember what parsley was called, so when we made our list, I ordered "little trees!" As for sewing, I know she finally broke down when I asked her what 3/4" meant!!!
Well, today I'm a so-so seamstress but I'm a very good cook and baker...no thanks to her, just a knack I have and discovered when I was older...children and boredom will do that at times.
Thanks for the memories .
Pam,
Love, love, loved your story. It was a definite trip down memory lane. I had a young teacher for Home Ec. The cooking class was fun but the sewing class....forget about it...I never could get it????
Thanks for sharing and making me laugh.
Stay warm....
Hugs,
Sandy
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