pass the potatoes please

work thoughts filled my mind as i walked
this morning. so many projects, so much to
figure out. i was deep into it all when i
turned a corner and started walking in the mud.

i looked down at my feet and the mud and
all of a sudden a memory filled my brain.

i was back walkin' in the muddy fields
on my granparent's farm.

my grandmother would take me for a walk
thru the field with all the cow pies til
we got way back to where the magic was.

she never described it that way. she was
a german farm wife. magic wasn't a big part
of her days.

and i started thinking about her.
it's amazing to look at those older women in
your life after you've grown up.

i thought of her hands and how red they
always were from working in the kitchen.
she'd use this really scalding hot water.
my gosh. i never knew how she did.
still don't.

thought of all the cooking,
peeling of potatoes,
cleaning,
more peeling of potatoes....

wow.
it was a totally different life for her.

she's long gone now. and it's too bad.
i would love to sit with her now and ask her
about how it felt being a woman.
did she ever really even remember she was???
or did she just get lost in the drudgery.

what i remember when i look back is drudgery.
did she see it that way?

did she have dreams she kept to herself,
or did she not even allow those to creep in?

when it was all said and done, would she look
back glad that she had lived it?

it all made me very grateful for my own life.
i don't think i really woke up to the woman thing
til i hit 40. the embracing of being feminine,
the joy of the woman friends, the delight in the
whole deal of being a woman.

and dreams of my own? shoot...again...prolly not
until 40.

and i can pursue them, and i can find other women
who are pursing theirs....

and it's not drudgery.
and if it is, i can leave that behind and change it.

i don't have to spend my life peeling potatoes.

and while that could be seen as just a cute sentence...
stop a minute and think about it....

there isn't a darn thing cute about it.

kinda makes me want to live a little extra zesty today.
and perhaps it would be a good nite to let the guys
make dinner!

yeah.
i'm thinking it would be......