Week 34: The Retired Caterer

The mother of someone I've known since high school is moving from her longtime home in Pennsylvania to an apartment in Florida. Her new place sounds fantastic, but it's smaller than the house she's been living in, which means she needs to part with a lot of her stuff.

For this woman, I think kitchen supplies may be the toughest. She was a professional caterer and there are mountains of supplies. There's also the impact of not being able to make all the things she used to. If she doesn't take her big flat pan, does that mean she will never make paella again? If she leaves her tube pan behind, is her last angel food cake in the past? With fewer special supplies, what will she bake to share with neighbors as she tries to make new friends?

I can only imagine how it felt for her when I came by to take some of her things. We went through bins and boxes, picking out what she didn't need that I could use or save for my daughter to use in the future. We talked about cooking and baking and about moving. I felt torn between wanting to help her part with things and knowing how hard I would cling to my standing mixer if the roles were reversed.

She was a good sport about it, focused on sharing her things and the memories associated with them, glad that they would go to good use. I am thankful and appreciative for her generosity to me, and I will think of her when I'm cooking or baking with the things she so kindly shared.

Photo by Heather Gill on Unsplash