Every culture has traditions, every sub-culture has traditions, every FAMILY has traditions. Some are wonderful, and some are a burden.
For example, I LOVE eating Easter breakfast at my Grandma's house. My entire maternal family shows up, and we eat fried breakfast foods galore. Yummy. It's the only day of the year that I enjoy waking up in the morning. But here's the flip side: who does the cooking? For most of my life, it was my grandma. For the last few years, it's been my mom. Guess who's next in line if we want to keep this tradition alive? Moi, although it will hopefully not happen for a couple decades. And I'll do it for the sake of my kids and keeping the family tradition (and secret recipe) alive.
And that is what I'm getting at. The mantle eventually being passed to me. When my parents are too old, I will most likely have to host Christmas and Thanksgiving at my house. That's a lot of work. My mom brought the reality home to me this season, because this year I have not been physically able to help her at all. Christmas is today, and most of my extended maternal family will be at my parent's house to celebrate. My mom has to do 95% of the cooking this year, plus make sure the house is clean and decorated and set up for several guests. She is understandably upset with me right now, but we'll talk it out soon.
The fact of the matter is that I am not physically capable of doing much of anything right now, and it's at the point that my job is threatened and I'm on too many meds. How am I supposed to cook several side dishes and desserts when both of my arms are in constant pain and partially frozen (due to a bad type of edema)? And that's not even mentioning the other medical crap that is slowly but surely dragging me down.
I hope the edema is gone by next year, and I will make it up to my mom by cooking up a storm to ease her burden so she can relax a bit. She does so much for me and my family, and she has her own health issues. No matter what, we must carry on! We must keep the family traditions alive for my kids and future generations!
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