Just an Ordinary Girl

31 - The Love of Baking

As a child, I became accomplished finding places to hide out and to escape to.

These were little corners of calm, where I could relax and enjoy snatches of enjoying being a child. I befriended several lady widows down our street and if I had errands to run and wanted to take my time, I would walk down my road and engage in chatter with them as I came across them in their front gardens. We would pass the time and sometimes even bake together. There were times I would disappear for hours.

I was use to the company of older souls, living with my grandparents from time to time. These ladies were pleased to watch the hands turn round with me as their days passed quicker with a child who smiled at their stories and shared their bakes.

We suited it each other and occupied each other's lives for several years, each offering something the other lacked, a companionship missing in our lives. In those innocent days of the 1970's no one ever saw my friendships as anything unusual or strange and it was pure. But I am sure that in this day and age this would never happen. For a start, people rarely now have front gardens to be proud of; they have instead become car parks which people do not loiter in. Then you would walk by and talk to people as you went about your business, you had time to talk and knew your neighbours well. It's not the same any more.

Some people may think I am a little bonkers, as I will talk to anyone. If they don't want to reply, that's their problem but I have had some very interesting conversations over the years, learnt a lot and made some enduring friendships this way.

I might not be everyone's cup of tea and I can't make everyone happy all of the time, but if I can make one person happy by sharing a smile and talking to them, when we meet, well that's fine with me.

My experiences with many old people is that many are lonely and my grandmother's friends always wanted me to pop by and say hello, so I guess I got use to that. Plus as I am an only child, I'm comfortable with my own company but I didn't always want to be alone. My mother's illness made it difficult for me to invite friends to mine. No one my age understood the responsibilities I had, of often running the home or dealing with my mother.

When I was a kid, escaping the house and my mother was a release, so by speaking to people, it ate up the time. I've always been interested in what people say and the stories they have and when I grew up, we didn't have television 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Old people had interesting stories and plenty of time to tell them and I was comfortable in their company due to intermittently living with my grandparents.

I don't know about you, but I feel that there something very therapeutic about baking and it is fun to do with another; I sometimes bake with my daughter and it always feels special when we do. It seems as though the stress of life falls away when you bake and calmness takes over you.

There is a certain magic when you share your precious baked creations; it's hard to explain but it lifts your spirits no matter what and places smiles on everyone's faces. Usually, I make too much and end up giving them to my neighbours and friends but then sharing them somehow makes it special.

Never underestimate the joy of baking, it feeds the soul.

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Many thanks, Kimberley S B Lieb