Grandma's Apron Strings

Greetings,

I was a last minute addition to my Mom's group of friends at the Dakotafest Women's Brunch in Mitchell, South Dakota. The theme for the brunch and the speaker was Grandma's Apron Strings. All of the committee coordinators and ushers were wearing gorgeous vintage and home-made aprons in an array of bright colors.

The invocation for the brunch was given by our very own Sr. Valerie! She started with a great story about the first lady's struggles as homemaker...Eve as the first lady by the way. The story was a great ice breaker and soon she had all the wives, mothers, and grandmothers in the audience on her side! After the crowd stopped chuckling at her story's conclusion, she led us seamlessly through a simple prayer of blessings.

The speaker was also a South Dakota girl...she too was dressed in an apron! Jane Green shared her wonderful sense of humor and lessons she has learned through stories from key points in her life. Her hope was that the women would be refreshed in Laughter, Love, and Living Life. She encouraged all of us to write the stories of our own lives that our lessons and wisdom could be passed on.

The following 'poem' was at each woman's place at the table. A few lyrical lines about the depth that the simple apron can share in our lives. Hmm...it makes me want to find a trusty pattern of my own to wear.

Blessings,

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The Principal use of Grandma's Apron was to protect the dress underneath, becuase she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought inot the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walking out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time-apron' that served so many purposes.