My Daddy Told Me...

“You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken feathers.”

            I can hear my daddy’s laugh as he utters this phrase.  It’s really lucky we are cut from the same mold because he always told me this at the most inopportune times.  After I had been fighting with my hair all morning, after spending hours studying for a test or writing a paper, after a really stressful day at work.  I know he doesn’t really mean it.  As a matter of fact it has become one of my favorite inside jokes between us.  Often, all I need to say is “chicken salad, chicken feathers” and the message has been successfully passed between us.  I have grown to expect him to say it.  Sometimes I set myself up for it.  Nowadays, I even find myself saying it to others.  Although no one else understands quite the way my daddy does. 

            In case you yourself are indeed confused at the words, allow me to explain.  Simply, it means you can’t make something out of nothing.  You can’t expect to have something great when you have nothing to start with.  Really mean when you think about my poor bad hair days, huh? 

            But when it seems like I’ve tried everything, put my best foot forward, and things are still coming up pear-shaped…well, that’s when I hear his voice in the back of my mind.  And maybe it’s not me…maybe it’s just those damn chicken feathers after all…