About The Black Skillet

Mom always finds a way to surprise me. Her memory is not so sharp, at times, so when she lets go with an off-the-wall remark, I pay attention. By the way, this is my first attempt at blogging, so like my Mom's memory, there will be mistakes. Also, I've never journaled, and I'm hoping this attempt at blogging will help both my memory and ability to put thoughts into words! Getting back to Mom, she is 84 years old this Christmas, and her health is not so good - heart problems. As the family historian, I enjoy hearing stories about the family, and I'm always trying to trick Mom into remembering little stories about herself as a child which is not so easy since she claims that she doesn't like to "talk about it." Yesterday, some of the family spent time at a Christmas gathering at Mom's house, and while we were enjoying opening presents, talking about old times and present interests,  my daughter mentioned the china service my grandmother had left her.  We all praised the beauty of the rose china service, and I laughingly said that the only thing I had gotten when Grampy passed away was her black skillet which, by the way, makes excellent corn bread. Mom pipes up and distinctly says, "That was Grandma Kitsy's black skillet!" Now, I always remembered that black skillet in my grandmother's kitchen, but I never knew that it had originally belonged to her mother. This was great-grandmother Kitsy who survived the Reconstruction of the South, whose father served in the War between the States, and whose life I've always been curious about, but I never knew that black skillet belonged to her!  "Mom," I said, "I didn't know that. Why didn't you tell me?"  I just sat there - dumbfounded, caught offguard by Mom's statement. With just a tad of exasperation in her tone, Mom replied:  "You never asked me!"