On becoming my mother

Last night I made tuna fish casserole. I never thought the day would come that I would actually make tuna fish casserole. I love my mother and she is many, many wonderful things however a cook is not neccesarily one of them. It's not that she's bad, it's just that, like me, she doesn't have "the touch" and we both lack imagination in the kitchen. After my parents (mom and stepdad that is) split up, I have little memory of her cooking at all, but prior to that my dinner memories consist of pretty much the same rotation of meals: spaghetti with meatballs, meatloaf, tacos, sloppy joes (which I never liked and, even if I ate meat, would still hate to this day) and tuna casserole. Now that I am a mother and trying to plan meals, I understand my mother's rationale for these meals. They are all pretty fast and easy and most of them revolve around ground beef which is cheap and easy to cook. When you have two children and a husband who comes home for about an hour to eat dinner (my stepdad was a TV anchorman so he would come home to eat dinner in between the 6 and 11 o'clock news), you cook what works. These days I don't think my mother would touch any of the aforementioned foods. Her long-time partner is a great cook and my mom has realized she makes a terrific sous chef. But my road is only just beginning. I want to be a better cook and I'm trying, I really, truly am but maybe I would be better off getting a job that affords the luxury of hiring a chef. Hell, it would probably be easier.