Picture a grand old historic home, built in the late 1800's, situated on the fringes...

M

michael-in-phoenix

Well-known member
...of the USC campus in Los Angeles. Stone pillars on the wraparound porch, two stories tall, with lots of tall windows and carved wood.

The inside has been beautifully and faithfully restored. In the 1990's the property functioned as a restaurant, so it has a full commercial kitchen.

My eldest son lives there with several church brothers, most of whom attend USC. He is able to cook and bake to his heart's content.

He called me Saturday afternoon and said, "Dad, I love you. I just wanted to let you know that I'm baking Oma's Marble Cake and the whole house smells like absolute heaven. The brothers are going nuts! Thank you for all the cooking and baking you did when we were growing up. I am at a point where I appreciate it even more."

Tears.

Note: Many of the brothers living in the house didn't grow up in the United States. Most did not grow up in homes that cooked and baked. My son just assumed everyone had a Dad and a Grandfather that cooked up a storm!

Michael

https://finerkitchens.com/1/wp-content/uploads/swap-photos/marble-cake2.jpg

 
Awww! My sister found this to be true when she was teaching and baked

cookie trays for her kids at school. Lots ot the kids had NEVER had a homemade cookie.

 
Michael, So lovely and heartwarming.....Ann Landers wrote

It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings - Ann Landers

You have done a wonderful job Michael.

 
Two things: God's incredible mercy and marrying out of my league. The boys...

...benefited greatly from both!

We see such grief around us, in our circle, with teenagers and grown children behaving badly and even parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol... wow. We know God has blessed us greatly and given us the tools to raise these two guys up in the way that they should both go.

Lisa is the best mother I've ever encountered, even with the bias of my adoration for her figured in. Our boys adore her and have gained so much from being her sons and being a part of her extended family. Her Dad, who was a cook in the US Navy for 20 years is the only grandparent they've known, as both our moms passed before they were born, and my Dad lived out of State and didn't try very hard.

I did my best for these two, and Lisa and I were on the same page with our parenting 99% of the time. I didn't want them to have a disengaged Dad, so I was as purposeful as possible.

We got the news last week that our youngest will be attending medical school starting this July, a little more than a month after graduating with his bachelors degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering. He wants to be a surgeon, either neurosurgery or cardio-thoracic.

Such a slacker!

Thank you for the kind words! I just realized our youngest was born about a month after my first post on Gail's Swap. TIME FLIES!

Michael

 
That is just wonderful, and they are all making memories that will carry them through life,

the gift of a kitchen goes on further like ripples in a vast ocean.

 
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