Can an object define love?

[timesjoke]

Love,

 

Now there is a very overused and under respected word here in America. It is used to describe many things to include hate "I love to hate that guy".

 

 

But considering the true meaning of love, can we find that meaning expressed in an object?

 

 

Maybe, if the feelings connected to the object are strong enough to truly leave no other emotion or idea in your mind, something a few would call "pure". I offer an example:

 

 

This weekend we made pies, no special reason, I just felt like it and always love to take the time to bake with my daughter who seems to be the only young female in the family who really seems to like baking.

 

My own story is a strange one, while I tend to not eat many of the things I bake (I prefer an extra piece of roast over a piece of cake) I take a considerable amount of pleasure from my family and friends who seem to enjoy the food and baked goods I serve them. Some may not understand what I am saying, but I would think a few like Ali and emkay will.

 

What is driving this discussion is the thoughts and memories that always get stirred up in my mind every time I find reason to use my rolling pin. It is an old, plain wooden one that most modern cooks would toss out without giving it more than a second glance. It does not even have a shafted handle to make it roll easier, you have to let the handles spin in your hands as you use it. It has some dings and dents in it and in all honesty it is just a tad out of round at this point, not bad, but you can tell when you use it compared to a new one.

 

So why use such an old and worn out device when better and nicer pins are available?

 

Because this pin belonged to my Great Grandmother.

 

Still today when I flour the pin before rolling out some dough I remember my Great Grandmother's slightly twisted hands (bad arthritis) doing the same thing as I watcher her and my Grandmother bake stuff. The memories I have involving this pin are warm kitchens, laughter, the smells of biscuts or cookies or pies as well as the tasts and the genral feeling of family and even security that this can offer a small child........

 

I have few memories of my Great Grandmother, she died when I was very young but I do remember her using this rolling pin..........Then there is many years of my Grandmother using it, then my mother after her, it was always assumed one of my sisters would want it but while both love to cook, they never took to making dough from scratch. Their biscuts come from a can, their pie crusts come in a package ready to use.........

 

So I pushed both my sisters to let me have it now that my mother is too sick to use it. They really did not put up any fight, they both know they will never use it while I will. But to be honest as much as this pin means to me I feel it should be passed on to a girl again, and that was the other reason I wanted it, the two neices I have do not like to cook even a little bit, only my daughter is showing some sign of having the 'bug' to be a great cook, to like how it feels to prepare meals and things that bring happiness to other people.

 

To put love into your cooking.

 

So when we bake we talk about many things but we also talk about the history of this pin, of how much good food it has made for our family and how many loving hands have rubbed flour over it through the years.

 

 

So can an object come to offer us a definition or focus of love?

 

I say yes, sometimes.

 

 

How about any of you? Is there some item that when you look at it or use it that has nothing but good and loving vibes comming from it?