Can You Miss What You Never Had?

Ah...the question du jour.  I had a friend give me one of these on Friday...do you have one?

To the ordinary eye, it would appear to be a pancake turner.  NO...not a spatula, as my oldest daughter who took FACS, Family and  Consumer Science...AKA Home Ec., learned last year and will tell me each time I request she hand me a spatula that I am calling it by the wrong name.  Well, the ordinary eye would be correct.  It is in fact a pancake turner.  And no, with all the Pampered Chef gadgets and tools I own, I did not, before Friday, own a pancake turner.  I had always made due with the other turners in my gadget arsenal.

I made my daughters and their cousins pancakes this afternoon after church.  Now  I know what I have been missing.  No pancakes dripping over the edge to spill their batter before the pancake was turned.  It's lovely.  And to think, I didn't know what I was missing.

My mom was born 3 months after her father died.  Having an AWESOME dad myself, I remember asking my mom, when she was alive, if she ever missed not having a father.  And her response was always, you can't miss what you don't have.  And like the pancake turner, I can understand that.  Oh, she had an uncle who stood in the place of her father and even though he was much older than her father would have been,  I'm sure he was an adequate substitute.  But he wasn't the real thing.

Are the real things important?  Yes, I believe they are.  Like the friend who gave me the pancake turner.  It was thoughtful.  It was silly.  It was useful.  It made me laugh.  And each time I make pancakes now, I will think of that friend.  I will think of what I had before she came into my life and KNOW that if she wasn't in my life, you can bet I would miss her.  Before I had substitutes, but they can't compare to the real thing.

Can you miss what you never had?  No, I guess you can't.  But once you have it, you definitely will know what you were missing.