My Special Skillet

This is no ordinary skillet.

A cast iron skillet.

This was my dad’s skillet…

When he passed in 2007 this was one of the treasures that became mine.

I remember the dishes he made in the skillet…think breakfast gravy!  I remember him showing me how you care for a cast iron skillet and how well food cooks in it.  He used this skillet for years, and now it is mine.

When my step-mother gave me the skillet, to be honest, I wasn’t thrilled.  I had longed to have the bible he used daily; it has belonged to my great-grandfather.  So the skillet spent more than a year in the cupboard.

When I finally took it out for the first time I was amazed that it didn’t have any rust.  My dad had seasoned it well and my lack of use hadn’t ruined that.  At first I used it only sparingly.  But the more I used it, the more I loved using it.

Each day I season it, just as he taught me, with bacon grease.  I cook up our eggs for breakfast and it connects me to him.   Such a small thing but amazingly important to me now.  I think he’d be happy to know his skillet is loved, used and appreciated.

I am so thankful my step-mother knew that this was the right treasure of his to give to me; even though I didn’t know it myself.

When the people we love leave are taken from the world, it is a gift beyond measure to have a daily reminder of them.  Something so simple as a much-loved skillet can keep them ever-present in our days, in our lives.

It isn’t the only gift my father shared with me – he would be so proud of my garden.  But that is story for a different day…