This is the story of a potato peeler. At least that’s what I’ve always called it. I believe the technical term is vegetable peeler, but to me, it is and will always be a potato peeler. It is one of my earliest memories, and one of the only memories I have of my dad when he still lived with us. That means this memory originated some time before I turned the age of nine. It is a story of a meager potato peeler, and the fact that some lessons learned are best learned the hard way.
01. Lessons Taught
I remember vividly the moment my dad taught me – or rather tried to teach me – to peel a potato. Have I told you that I’m a recovering perfectionist? Well, I came by it honestly; my dad was also a perfectionist. He wanted everything done with excellence. I remember him saying, “If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, you won’t have time to do it over again.”
On this particular day, my dad was trying to teach me to peel a potato. I held a very sharp paring knife in my small hands, and he held one in his big, ink-stained hands. He was a printer by trade. I remember his hands specifically. They always seemed so big, and so strong. As he peeled his potato, he coached me as I learned to peel mine.
If you’ve ever peeled a potato with a paring knife, you know it can be a challenge, especially for small nine-year-old hands. But he coached, and I continued to try. He would say, “Don’t get too much potato. Try to only get the potato skin.” And then, inevitably, I’d take a big chunk of potato with the peeling. Then he would coach again, “Try to only get the skin. You don’t want to waste any of the potato.”
It is a lesson taught that I may never forget. To this day, I can peel a potato like an Army Culinary Specialist.
02. When you’re a cheater and a fraud
I also remember in vivid detail the day I wandered into my local TJMaxx and saw a beautiful stainless steel Cuisinart potato peeler hanging enticingly on the rack. It was so shiny, and because I love anything Cuisinart, I couldn’t help but pick it up and observe it longingly.
That was when spontaneity struck. I held the peeler in my hand. It felt both cool and sturdy; ergonomic. Before I knew what overcame me, I put the potato peeler into my cart.
I felt like such a cheater, a scoundrel, a fraud. I found myself glancing around to see if anyone had observed me putting the shiny contraband into my cart. Luckily for me, there was no one in the aisle at the time. It appeared I’d gotten off Scott – Free!
03. Lessons learned
When I arrived home and unpacked my treasures, I laid the shiny potato peeler on my kitchen counter. I looked at it and second-guessed my purchase. Why on earth had I spent $7.99 on that gadget? I knew how to peel a potato. Goodness, I could peel a carrot with a paring knife if I needed to. Why did I let the shiny new object get the better of my judgement?
Then, as I began to prepare dinner, I took the potato peeler from its cardboard, washed it carefully in the sink, and began to peel my vegetables. It was sharp; sharper than any paring knife I had in my wooden block or my cutlery drawer. It removed the potato peeling – and only – the potato peeling.
When it comes to lessons learned, this was one that ranked in my top ten. It seemed as if, although done ‘correctly’, I had also been doing things, the hard way. I had been doing them the hard way because I was taught to do them the hard way.
I was taught not to take the easy way out or to take short cuts. The lessons learned were to do things with excellence and with pride in your work, to not stop at 90%, but to continue on until the work was completed.
04. Lessons we teach ourselves
Every time I reach for that vegetable peeler from my kitchen drawer, I think of my dad. I wondered for a while if he would be disappointed in me for forsaking the lesson learned the hard way, for taking the easy way out. I wondered if he would shake his head and say something like, “I taught you better than that, Billie.” He may have, he may not have. But I also know that I would have said something snide like, “But I’m not an old-timer like you, daddy…” We teased one another like that, dad and me.
As lessons learned go, I now understand that peeling my vegetables, and my potatoes with a peeler isn’t a matter of right or wrong. It’s simply something people do. Some peel potatoes with a peeler while others use a paring knife. Both are perfectly fine options.
As we care for our homes and go about our daily chores and tasks, it is beneficial to remember that just because we learned a lesson the hard way doesn’t mean we must continue to do it the hard way.
The lesson I taught myself, was that in a world where things are often extraordinarily difficult, sometimes it’s okay to ask for help, and to accept help when you need it. Even if it’s just from a simple stainless steel potato peeler.
xo, Billie
P.s. I can still peel a potato the old fashioned way with the best of ’em.
P.s.s. If you liked this article, you may also enjoy reading Confessions of A Happy Homemaker
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