The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Recently I was working on a yarn project and was having a problem getting it to be the size that I wanted. Then I remembered YouTube. I got on and typed in the project I was working on and, voila! There were instructions and examples of exactly what I needed. I said out loud, "wow, YouTube is the best thing since sliced bread!"

Now, do you ever have a moment like that where you blurt out a phrase or saying and then wonder to yourself, "where did that come from?" So often we use these catch phrases that we picked up from someone at sometime and don't even realize we have adopted them for our own. In this case I had to stop and think about who I knew that used to say that. Then it dawned on me that it was a friend I had years ago who used it whenever she discovered some new product or device that made her life easier.

So I sat with the image of "sliced bread" for a while (bear with me, folks, this will all make sense soon). Our grandmothers, if not our mothers, used to make their own bread. They would pull that warm, wonderful bead from the oven and there was nothing better than to slice off a slab and smother it in butter or jam. There was something about a loaf of home made bread that said  things like ":home, family, Mom, Grandma, childhood, etc". If you think about it, that bread was probably made from locally, organically  grown grains, with no preservatives. Then along came the idea of mass production and sliced bread. As more and more women entered the workforce, especially during the war when women took over the men's jobs while they were at the front, new devices and time saving ideas made sense.

I recently purchased a loaf of bread from a farmers' market. It was still warm in the wrapper. It smelled heavenly. I frequent this lady's stand whenever I go because I know that she uses all home grown ingredients. When I warm it up in the oven and slice off a piece ... it's like Sunday at my house when I was little and my Mom would heat up the fresh loaf of Italian bread to go with the Sunday  pasta. It makes me remember all those good things like home, family, good, safe, etc.

Sometimes, like with that YouTube video, I am amazed and thankful for the help. Other times I feel as if technology is pulling me away from things that play an important part in my life. The more time I spend on Facebook, the less time I spend taking a walk, playing with my cats, watching the birds do their daily aerial ballet. The more I use convenience foods, the less healthy food I am putting in my body. So these days I am being a little more aware of the next new thing coming down the pike. If it makes my life easier or is helpful without my having to sacrifice health or happiness, so be it. If not, I'll let it pass to the next person. Some things never go out of style. Those are the things I cherish.

And so it is.