When I was growing up my mom was one of the few women in our neighborhood that had a career outside the home. Every evening she came home from work, changed her shoes and put on her apron over her dress to cook a full course meal for our family of six. She would stay up late at night ironing, sewing, canning, and then up early the next morning cooking breakfast, making lunches, and then off to work again to start the day all over again. I didn't realized just how hard it must have been for her, until I was grown with a family of my own. It makes me tired just thinking about it!
My mom is a wonderful cook and there were always fresh vegtables on the table. I didn't always like to eat them, but she and my daddy always made sure we had plenty of healthy food to eat. When I see apons now it always reminds me of the hours she spent cooking for her family, and how much I appreicate the sacrifices she made for us. I always tended to take the easy way out and fed my family way too many times from the drive-thru; not proud of it but that was just how it was.
Recently I have been looking at aprons on Etsy sites and Ebay. I bought one last week from the 1950's in perfect condition. I don't think it was ever worn. The price tag of .59 cents from W.R. Grant store is still stapled at the hem. I love it!
I purchased another apron also and it has inspired me to cook a little bit more rather than going out to eat six days a week! When I told my family I was going to cook dinner more often since I had my aprons, they just looked at each other with the raised eyebrows. It probably wasn't so much about not believing that I would follow through with my plan as much as they were scared they were going to have to eat my cooking! 
