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Potato Peeler

Many winters ago I received a holiday gift of an OXO vegetable peeler shaped like a Y from a vendor we worked with at the time. While I never owned a lot of kitchen doodads, this peeler was love at first sight and a love that has never dimmed. It changed the whole nature of potato peeling for me. 

Focus moved from the act of peeling to what might follow from there. What would be created and what level of perfection may the potato achieve. These were never the concerns at potato peeling in the past. It was necessary to focus on safety, reducing discomfort and successful completion of the job. 

About a year ago I accidentally left the peeler on a hot stove top and a part of the handle melted. The peeler became a less perfect to hold, the ding made it rough to touch. It was harder now to focus on the perfection after instead of the mundane act of peeling the potato. 

The arc of the OXO peeler’s life in my kitchen drawer is not that different from that of my own. I have brought joy to some in the past but after being dinged over the years the joy I might bring is subsumed by dealing with my imperfections. For some the peeler would have fallen to disuse by now or replaced even but I still hold it very dear; some in my life continue to cherish me dings and all. 

Interesting what thoughts might come to mind reading about the OXO peeler.

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