Planning and a Variety of Citrus

Growing up, I learned a lot from my mother. One thing would be my cooking skills. Another is how to polka and waltz. My dad has never really liked to dance, but she had been quite good. We would polka in and out of the front entryway and into the kitchen, my mom taking the man's part. Then we'd break down laughing. My mom even taught me algebra in seventh grade. This meant studying my textbook beforehand, re-learning the material that had faded before taking on her frustrated daughter. Then there are all the less concrete attributes that she exemplified that hopefully I soaked up at least in part.

There is one thing I did not necessarily learn: her meticulous planning skills. Oh, yes, I know how to think through a process. My field is very process-oriented and requires one to think things through start-to-finish. Otherwise things have a tendency to blow up on you, occasionally quite literally. This is all very different, however, from the way my mom structured her life, especially at the beginning of her married life. All I have to go on is the written records, but I'm assuming she followed her plans pretty well. She has several weeks' worth of dinner menus written out. According to the plan, you would have the same meal every eight weeks or so, always on the same day of the week. Maybe that is why there are some meals that seem so set in my mind. You eat goulash with steamed cauliflower. That's just the order of the universe, dang it!

Then there are some of the crazy records she kept. I'm assuming they were for idea purposes later on. Otherwise I'm not quite sure why you would need to know what was served at the Sybrowsky's dinner party, held December 5, 1997. She also left lists of what we put on the neighbors' Christmas goody plates each year in the early '80s. In case you were wondering, the almond chocolate balls were a constant. Oh, and blender cheesecake with cherry pie filling was served as the refreshment for the third week of temple prep.

Lastly are the lists of chores and when they were to take place. There were daily chores, weekly chores, bi-weekly chores, etc. All of this comes to mind in stark contrast to my modus operandi lately. No, I've never organized my life the same way as my mom did, but recently it seems more chaotic than usual. And I'm being more forgetful. There is one thing I can attribute it to: engagement. I always maintained that the combined I.Q. of an engaged couple drops to that of a kumquat or some other similarly intelligent fruit. By myself, I think I'm currently somewhere around a grapefruit. Let's just hope that the wedding comes before I get juiced.