When I got married at 22, I didn’t know how to sew.

I didn’t really know how to keep a house clean.

I figured gardening was for hippies, and had nothing but faux plants in our new home. Anything else would have died.

Fortunately for my husband, I was one mean cook. I could distract him with things like homemade lasagna and lemon tarts so he didn’t notice my flaws so much.

This year, we celebrated our tenth anniversary recently and I realized something.

I still can’t sew. If a button needs replacing, I hand it to my husband.

I still don’t really understand true housekeeping. If I did, I wouldn’t be noticing grimy build up in certain parts of my home that probably haven’t been cleaned in ten years. Who knew you were supposed to pull out your stove and clean under there once in a while?

I figured out gardening isn’t for hippies, but the three dead science experiments show that I have no skills in that area, either.

I’m still a great cook, but that’s not enough anymore. My husband is starting to notice!

My oldest is less than five years away from finishing high school. I remember thinking I had a lifetime to teach her all the things I never learned. I am seriously behind. I could send her out to sewing classes, but you know what? I’m tired of it. I’m tired of cleaning by trial and error. I’m tired of paying to have pants hemmed. I’m tired of longing for a garden and being too scared to try.

So I’m doing something about it.

I signed up for a six week Basic Sewing class at a local fabric shop.

I joined a community garden that our whole family can help work in and learn from the experience of others at the same time.

I’ve ordered a few housekeeping books and decided to stop just getting by with housework and start getting serious.

I’m a little scared. I’m already a busy homeschooling mom. Yet I find that when I keep my priorities in order, God blesses my efforts, so I believe that I will be able to find the time to grow from Remedial Homemaker to just Homemaker.

Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll make the honors class.

Are there any skills you never learned that you’d like to pass on to your daughters?

It’s never too late!