It's All in the Timing

  

          Six years ago, when I turned 40, I received a gift card to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I wanted a new cheese grater (because I was 40 and cheese graters suddenly held great – grate? – appeal), so I purchased one that came with multiple options. There were four plates that you could interchange over a container and achieve different outcomes of slicing and shredding.

            The first time I used it, I cut my finger fairly severely. It was funny after the fact but quite maddening in the moment. This was when Ryan worked at the rehab hospital and I was a stay-at-home wife. I was in my pajamas at the time of the injury and had to figure out how to take off the pajamas and put on clothes to get to Ryan for a wound cleaning and dressing. It was not bad enough to need stitches, but too deep for my squeamish self to handle. Have you ever tried to take off pajamas and put on clothes while using one hand to apply pressure to a deep cut on the other hand? It’s an event.

            Because of this, I resorted to only using the cheese grater plate, and for six years, all those other plates have remained firmly in their places, unused.

            For six years (as my friend Kari pointed out when I posted about this on Instagram) I have packed and moved this little gadget – three times. I’ve combed through all kitchen gadgets with every move and have gotten rid of many. But this one stayed. I ruthlessly eliminated items I barely or never used, but the grater and slicer stayed.

            Yesterday I made a new-to-us recipe that called for thinly sliced butternut squash. I read dozens of reviews on the recipe and learned that it was imperative that the squash be truly thin. If it was even a little bit too thick, it would not soften in the dish and ruin the whole thing. I pulled out that slicer and stared at it. What if I tried to use it and cut myself again? It was a deviation from the trusted cheese grater.

            But I really wanted that recipe to work, so I pushed through and tried the slicer.

            BRILLIANT.

            Those little discs turned out perfectly shaped. Better than that, they cooked perfectly. That was a complete blessing.

            If I hadn’t used any part of that gadget in these last six years, I guarantee you it would have been eliminated in one of those moves. But because part of it was useful to me, I kept all of it, and eventually I worked through my fear of using the parts that hurt me before.

            It’s a life lesson, isn’t it? Don’t throw out all of an experience because part of it was hurtful? Use what you can and maybe one day you’ll be brave enough to try again? Keep the experience and wait for the right timing to roll around to use it to its fullest?

            A life lesson and some perfect butternut squash. Not too shabby for a Tuesday, my friends.