Bena Mae’s Kitchen: To see ourselves as others see us

One of life’s greatest embarrassments is running into someone you went to school with and fail to recognize when you meet up with them many years later. It’s funny, they remember you but you don’t remember them.

This has happened to all of us at one time or another and it’s a total embarrassment. There is no easy way to get out of it.
Although it was not a class reunion, my husband and I attended an army reunion of his buddies that fought together in WWII. It was their first reunion and they hadn’t seen each other since the end of the war many years ago.

We entered the restaurant where the reunion was to be held and began looking for the social room where the gathering took place. We searched one room after another and finally came upon a large group of old men and women.

“This can’t be the right room,” we smugly told ourselves, “we’re not that old.” Upon checking with the desk, we found that it really was the right room and those “old” people were the buddies he hadn’t seen in years. Then we realized that we were part of the “old” people, too.

The following story hits the nail on the head. It was given to me by a friend who suggested that ‘’we see ourselves as others see us.’’ I’d like to share it with you because it’s too good to keep. You’ll love it.

— Hello, my name is Alice. I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS diploma on the wall which bore his full name.

Suddenly I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 40-odd years ago.

Could it be the same guy that I had a crush on way back then?

Seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate.

After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended the same school as I had years ago.
“Yes I did. I’m a Mustang,” he gleamed with pride.

“When did you graduate, I asked?”

He answered, “In 1975. Why do you ask?”

“You were in my class,” I exclaimed.

He looked at me closely, then that ugly old bald, wrinkled faced, gray haired pompous buffoon asked, “WHAT DID YOU TEACH?????”

~~~~~~

This peach cobbler dump cake is good with ice cream.

Peach Cobbler Dump Cake

Ingredients
2 (16 ounce) cans peaches in heavy syrup
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
 
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Empty peaches into the bottom of one 9×13 inch pan.
Cover with the dry cake mix and press down firmly.
Cut butter into small pieces and place on top of cake mix. Sprinkle top with cinnamon.
Bake at 375 degrees.