Yeah, internet, sorry that my single mother was presumably too exhausted all the time to cook properly herself, let alone teach me. She was kind of busy working and stuff, and I ate out of boxes and cans until I was in my late teens.
I did eventually teach myself to cook, but some basic things that people with parents who taught them how to cook and bake take for granted are all things that I had to learn as an adult.
Oh, and I still don't cook very much now, even though I like to. I have an average of three hours a night between when I get home from work and when I have to go to bed in order to get enough sleep. So while I don't eat out of boxes and cans, a lot of what I eat is thrown together-salads, yogurts, stir-fries, and so on-because I need those three hours to wind down, do more work, and so on.
Hope, I feel lucky that I can cook and that I had the necessary skills to cook when I left home. I'm not one to criticise people for not cooking or knowing how to cook. I've taught my fiance how to cook. I don't blame anyone for not knowing how to cook, cooking is NOT something that comes naturally to people either. Also, yes, cooking is work...especially since I'm a single mum and work as well. I'm lucky that I finish work early so I can take the time to cook because cooking can be time consuming
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Oh yes, Hope...I meant to mention I'm lucky that I have had a lot of "domestic skills" passed down to me. My mum taught me how to cast on, knit and purl and cast off for knitting...I taught myself everything else. I had sewing lessons when I was 12/13 one summer. I learnt how to economise and plan meals...but some of that is something that comes from my family coming from another country. My mum was born in poverty in the slums of Bradford during WW2 and rationing existed for YEARS after the war ended. My mum was never a career woman and when she did work, it was part time so she had time to do these things. I was the opposite to you when I went to Antioch, that I was surprised some people didn't know how to cook. Antioch was a real eye opener to me as well in a different way.
I don't know how to drive. I can barely swim (My family didn't go to pools very much, and I was never taught because I don't think my parents can swim. But, they had my brother take lessons as a kid. Not me. Whatever.) I get more crap for the swimming than the driving, but I still get surprised looks about the driving. I don't know how to crochet or knit, and I have no desire to learn
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If you ever decide that you want to learn to swim, I remember that the Oliver Bath House had Adult Learn To Swim classes. It was something like $30 individual/$50 family for the yearly pool passes -- not sure if the class cost anything on top of that, but I suspect it would be in the same price range if it does
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Not being comfortable in water is what stopped me from learning how to scuba dive on our vacation in April. I do regret that. A lot of people told me it was nothing like swimming and that I should do it, but I didn't want to explain how I really didn't know how to swim at all and had extreme fears of deep water around a bunch of people who basically grew up with the ocean as their backyard.
I rode a bike all throughout my childhood and stopped during my teen years. You know how they say you never forget how to ride one? That isn't true! I picked a bike up at 19 when I lived in Highland Park with a boyfriend - we had plans to ride bikes around and do cute couple bike things - I couldn't stay on the damn thing. I was crashing and falling off constantly. It was very frustrating.
The heels thing: I wear chunky heels - you know, the ones that were popular in the 90's and came in awesome "Witch Boot" styles. I'm OK with those heels, but they're not really heels according to some. I've tried to learn how to walk in the "adult big girl heels", but it's so godawful and uncomfortable. I work on my feet all day, and I want to keep them comfortable. I'm tall anyway, I don't care about heels. But, I do feel...I don't know, "not feminine enough" if I go out to some social function and notice that every woman is wearing heels or "fuck me" pumps, and I have flats on. It's something I need to get over and accept about myself: I ain't no high heels girl.
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I did eventually teach myself to cook, but some basic things that people with parents who taught them how to cook and bake take for granted are all things that I had to learn as an adult.
Oh, and I still don't cook very much now, even though I like to. I have an average of three hours a night between when I get home from work and when I have to go to bed in order to get enough sleep. So while I don't eat out of boxes and cans, a lot of what I eat is thrown together-salads, yogurts, stir-fries, and so on-because I need those three hours to wind down, do more work, and so on.
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I rode a bike all throughout my childhood and stopped during my teen years. You know how they say you never forget how to ride one? That isn't true! I picked a bike up at 19 when I lived in Highland Park with a boyfriend - we had plans to ride bikes around and do cute couple bike things - I couldn't stay on the damn thing. I was crashing and falling off constantly. It was very frustrating.
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