El camino correcto/ The right path. (Esp/Eng)

Al pasar de los años, yo ya estaba casado y con 2 hijos, por circunstancias de la vida ya no estaban mi papá, mi mamá y mi hermano. Llegó el COVID y además de las desgracias naturales que trajo consigo, a mi, personalmente esos tiempos no me resultaron muy buenos. El hecho es que justo en medio de la pandemia quedé solo en casa tras el fin de mi matrimonio.
El momento que mi papá señaló años atrás había llegado, estaba solo e iba a necesitar lo que había aprendido años atrás y que ya había usado ocasionalmente para ayudar, no sentía temores, me sentía preparado para lidiar con lo que presuponía hacer todo en mi casa sin la presencia y ayuda de una mujer, sin que resultara traumático o agobiante. Había cocinado algunas cosillas de vez en vez, no era de las tareas en que mas tuve que ayudar, por lo que las habilidades culinarias que tenía no estaban muy desarrolladas, siempre pensé que lo que cocinara sería comible, pero para mi sorpresa la cocina se me dió mejor de lo que esperaba, no solo era comible, también era disfrutable, encontré bienestar y paz mientras cocinaba al ritmo de buena música, ese fue un descubrimiento que me gustó mucho,

Dicen por ahí que el amor entra por la cocina, jajaja, realmente no lo creo, pero a mi actual esposa, mis hijos y amigos les encanta lo que cocino. Dicen que soy cinta negra en la elaboración de pastas( largas o cortas), y arroz amarillo en algunas de sus modalidades.
En fin, estuve 2 años solo en casa, atendiendo a mis 2 hijos cuando me visitan, que es frecuentemente porque viven muy cerca de mi. Adriano, mi hijo menor, un día tras comer un arroz amarillo con pollo y maiz que hice, me preguntó ¿ Papá porqué tu no eres chef?..😅😅😅, cosas de niños, supongo que era su manera de decir que el arroz le había gustado mucho.
Hoy en mi posición de papá, intento que mis hijos sepan lo importante que es saber y valerse por si mismos en todos los sentidos, tanto en lo que supuestamente "corresponde" a la mujer como lo que no( electricidad, plomería, reparación electrodoméstico, albañilería, mantenimiento), lo que sea que haga falta hacer para resolver un problema inmediato.

Siempre hay un espacio libre para más conocimiento, nunca sabes cuando vas a tener que tirar de alguno de tus conocimientos para sacarte de un problema inmediato. La especialización es muy buena, sobresalir por ello también, pero considero muy útil tener al menos una base cognoscitiva de amplio espectro que permita valerte por ti mismo en cualquier situación, algo así como dar los primeros auxilios a un alguien para que sobreviva hasta que lleguen los especialistas, usando un ejemplo médico.
Un saludo cordial a todos, tengan una bella semana. Hasta la próxima.

_{Las imagenes usadas en la publicación son de mi propiedad, excepto las que tienen referencias.}

ENGLISH VERSION (click here!)

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My father was the oldest of 11 brothers who had to start working very early to help his family financially. He grew up forged by righteousness and physical work above all, in the midst of a society with marked sexist tendencies where men depended totally of women for everything related to domestic work (cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc.). He knew about sacrifice, about hard work, about convictions, about righteousness, but he did not handle domestic tasks very well, in fact, he did not handle anything and not just those that were supposedly "corresponding" to women, no, there were others that "corresponded" to men he was not good either, for which he always required some specialized friend. My father, like almost every man at that time, had sexist traits, but they did not stop him from showing my brother and I the right path.

_{Leonel Hernández Eriza(Mi padre)}

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Of course, physical work part was his total domain and he involved us in it from early on, without deviating us from our studies, he frequently used to say to us "Yoy better study so that you don't have to go to the fields to work, but learn to work hard in the field in case they need it". That's what we did, my brother and I were two work mules, as my Uncle Tite used to say, but our brains came out good too and academically we managed to make decent progress till we became professionals. Sexist traits aside, there was something that Leonel, my dad, insisted a lot on, and that was that we should help mom with everything, he said "We are 3 males leaving a trail and your mom can't deal with everything alone, so help her and In the process, learn enough so when she is not there, you could have the autonomy that comes with knowing how to do everything in the house on your own, unlike me, an old man useless in these tasks". Mom taught us well how to clean, wash (at that time we washed by hand in a vatea), how to iron clothes, the first steps of cooking, as far as we could, we were children and the kerosene stove, which was what there was to cook with, was a little dangerous for us. Cleaning the house was very fun, at least for my brother and I. Our house had a polished cement floor that when wet was special for sliding, especially the doorway, which was very long, cleaning always ended with a hose pouring water and us (my brother and I) sliding on the doorway from one side to the other like crazy half-naked torpedoes. We spent a good amount of time there, until we were tired and our chests were red from so much friction, and then we gave the final touch to the cleaning.

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When the time comes

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As years went by, I was already married with 2 sons, due to life circumstances my father, my mother and my brother were no longer around. COVID arrived and in addition to the natural misfortunes it brought with it, those times were not very good for me personally. The fact is that right in the middle of the pandemic I was left alone at home after the end of my marriage. The moment that my dad pointed out years ago had arrived, I was alone and I was going to need what I had learned years ago and that I had already used occasionally to help. I didn't feel fear, I felt prepared to deal with what it meant to do everything in my house. without the presence and help of a woman, without it being traumatic or overwhelming. I had cooked a few things from time to time, it was not one of the tasks that I had to help with the most, so the culinary skills I had were not very developed, I always thought that food I cooked would be edible, but to my surprise I was able to handle the kitchen better than expected, food wasn't only edible, it was also enjoyable, I found well-being and peace while cooking to the rhythm of good music, that was a discovery that I really liked, They say around that love comes through the kitchen, hahaha, I really don't believe it, but my current wife, my children and friends love what I cook. They say I have a black belt in making pasta (long or short), and yellow rice in some of its forms. Anyway, I was alone at home for 2 years, taking care of my 2 children when they visited me, which is frequently because they live very close to me. Adriano, my youngest son, one day after eating yellow rice with chicken and corn that I cooked, asked me, Dad, why aren't you a chef? 😅😅😅, kid stuff, I guess it was his way of saying that he had liked it a lot. Today in my position as a dad, I try to let my children know how important it is to know and take care of themselves in every way, both in what is supposedly "up" to women and what is not (electricity, plumbing, appliance repair, masonry, maintenance), whatever needs to be done to solve an immediate problem. There is always free space for more knowledge, you never know when you are going to have to draw on some of your knowledge to get you out of an immediate problem. Specialization is very good, standing out for it too, but I consider it very useful to have at least a broad-spectrum cognitive base that allows one to fend for himself in any situation, something like giving first aid to someone so that they survive until the specialists arrive, using a medical example.
A cordial greeting to you all, have a nice week. Till next time.

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Images on the post are mine except the ones with reference below.

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