Oh, the pressures...

In life there are enough pressures to keep up with and cause anxiety without the undue additions that society brings.  As a wife and mother there is constant pressure to keep the house clean, the children fed (healthily even), make sure the kids get enough sleep, play nice, share, take baths, that I get a bath, church responsibilities, that my husband is happy, etc, etc, etc...you get the point and if you are a wife, mother, and/or human being, you understand what I am saying.  

What really got me thinking about all this pressure was that I was given a starter for Amish Friendship Bread by my sister-in-law.  There is a lot of pressure in accepting a starter for AFB.  It is not just a one time event, this is a commitment, a repeated 10-day commitment...it is almost a part time job!  You must squeeze the bag daily.  I can't tell you how many times I have woken up from a near sound sleep with the realization that I did not, in fact, squeeze the bag that day.  Of course I can't sleep knowing there is an unsqueezed bag in my kitchen.  You also have to keep track of how many days that start has been sitting in it's beloved ziplock bag, because on day 6 you have to add ingredients.  That leads to the pressure of knowing when day 6 is.  Do you count day 1 as the day the start was placed in the bag, like you would do with your menstrual cycle, or do you count day 1 as the next day, as in 24 hours or 1 day?  Personally, I fluctuate it between baking days and I have found that either seems to work fine--in case you need relief from the pressure of making that decision.  After the milk, flour, and sugar are added you have more days of squeezing and letting out the fermented air (which I have to tell you, learn from my mistake, point the bag away from your face when releasing the air).  Finally day 10 comes!  The great day of reward when you get to make this delicious loaf of bread, but it doesn't end with the reward.  Every 10 days that you make the bread, you have also created 4 starts and a whole new list of pressures.  Do you keep a start for yourself with the commitment to make bread again in 10 days, or do you give them all away to your friends, since it is "friendship bread?"  Not to mention that you do have to keep in mind that if you do keep a start, at some point you will run out of friends to give the bread to.  The length of time you can continue to give away starts of friendship bread is based on the size of your circle of friends.  If you give a start to a friend with whom you share a mutual friend then you take the risk of the second friend receiving a start before you have the chance to rid yourself of a future start.  Not to mention that you may have to buy stock in milk, flour, and sugar if you continue to keep starts for yourself.  To add to the pressure of your decision is a warning at the bottom of the recipe "only the Amish know how to make a start, if you give all the starts away you will have to wait until you receive a start from another friend before you will be able to make the bread again."  Why can't my next door neighbor be Amish?  That way I could have the bread for holidays and special occasions without the risk of having so many loafs of bread I could build a house out them.  Upon my last batch (of 4 so far), I called my sisters to see if any of them wanted a start.  My youngest sister, KM, wisely asked me to bring her a mini-loaf of just the bread without having to accept the start (why didn't I think of that?).  Ten days later at Didda's bridal shower, my sister, Gillette, who had accepted the start, announced to everyone that she had AFB starts available if anyone would like one.  KM immediately said that she would take one.  Of course I protested and told her she would have to take one of my starts since I had made her a loaf of bread previously.  Our third sister, Agee, said, "you can do that? You can just get the loaf without the start?  I want that deal!"  No go, KM ruined it for future freeloaders.  So, here I sit, staring at 3 ziplock bags (I didn't even have time to offer starts this round) with starts for AFB in them...do I make them? Do I throw them away?  Oh, the pressure of this decision....

Another pressure that I do not like having to deal with is driving in the fast lane.  Sure, you typically get to your destination slightly faster...typically.  But in doing so you also have the pressure of having to go fast, and sometimes it is just too much.  If I am in the middle of a line of cars in the fast lane I can deal with this pressure.  It is when I am the first or second car in the line of fast lane dwellers that I get a little anxiety.  If you are the first car then you have to be moving at a speed that is consistently faster than the lane to your right.  You also have to be constantly aware of available "move over" spaces that arise.  Upon upcoming arrival of these spaces, you must be able to judge your speed verses the length of the line behind you to quickly calculate whether you will be significantly slowed by letting the line pass you before you have the opportunity to move back to the fast lane, or if you will be fast enough to pass the closest car in front of you in the right lane before those behind you get annoyed.  And no matter how fast you are going you know that there is someone in the lane behind you cursing that if you would just move over the entire lane would be able to move faster.  Who needs that kind of pressure?  Being second is no better, because you know that as soon as the first car finally does move over you will become the first car and feel all the pressures that come with that responsibility.  Honestly, I would prefer to be near the middle complaining about the first car.

There are other pressures that I recognized throughout this week, but with all the pressure of everyday life, I have inadvertently chosen to forget them...who needs the pressure of trying to remember?  And on an end note, if you would like a start for the most delicious Amish Friendship Bread, please feel free to email me your address, I would be happy to provide as long as supplies are available.