Ode to My Paring Knife #sol18

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Do you have a kitchen tool or gadget you couldn't live without?  For me, it is my paring knife. I have had this knife forever, and I am not being hyperbolic. I know I have had this knife for as long as I have been married, if not longer.

I can peel paper-thin potato skins; peel an apple in one long curly piece; and dice vegetables in a wink of an eye.  But only with this paring knife.  I have tried the ones with the plastic handles and the little blades, and I have bought Pampered Chef knives. But I cannot use any of these. I am all thumbs when I do.

So you can imagine how panicked I was when I woke up this morning and my husband asks, "Have you seen the paring knife?  I have looked everywhere and can't find it."

"No, did you look in the drawer?" I ask while opening the drawer where it always is. "Hmm, not in there. Did you look in the other drawer?"

"Yes, it is not in any of them."

All of sudden I panic as I remember the last time I had the knife. My heart starts racing and I feel sick to my stomach. I made pepper salsa and cut a large number of peppers and onions with it one night this week for a faculty carry-in.

"Oh no! What night did I make that salsa? Oh, it was Wednesday, after trash day, The knife must still be in there," and I go out to the porch to the trash can.

I hear him say behind me, "You are going to look for it in there?  More power to you!"

I hold my nose and dive into the bag full of...well, it is a trash bag.  Deep down in the bottom, in the middle of wet paper-towel-wrapped green, yellow, red, and orange pepper guts,

...is my knife!

Today, in its honor, I write an ode.

Ode to My Paring Knife

Oh, paring knife,

I gracefully place your wooden handle in my hands

and together we waltz to the rhythm

of the chopping,

the peeling,

the slicing.

I lead the way;

you follow my lead,

without stepping on my fingers.

Oh, paring knife, 

you are the perfect partner.