wonderful wednesday (thursday, friday...)

Another parent at V's school started something called Wonderful Wednesday.  Simple and sustaining:
Once a month, provide  a generous breakfast for the whole staff as a way to show our appreciation.  Most who contribute do so financially, but I choose to bake since it's such a delicious and fun way to say thank you to people.

And like maintaining a gratitude list, once a month WW starts the week off on the right track, because I have to decide what I'm going to make on Sunday or Monday and go to the store for whatever ingredients I need and then bake on Tuesday - occasionally I'll get up really early on Wednesday morning, but I worry about how just out of the oven goodies will hold up in the back of a van.  It puts me in a giving-back mode and a generous mood all week. 

The fact is if I gave them all the lovin' from the oven they deserve, I'd be sending in a feast every morning to eat on fine china instead of paper plates, with fresh flowers in a vase. It would be first class all the way.  I wish I could raise salaries so that's the way they'd roll all the time!

I grew up with this poster in my room, so that awareness of teachers and social workers and everyone else contributing so much for so little is ingrained in me.  (The second poster below is a modern update : )

This month I made cornbread. And though it is a version too sweet for purists (no sugar in real cornbread, which should be made in a cast iron skillet with buttermilk and free-range eggs) I am not making it for them but for the hardworking teachers, aides, therapists and administrators who get up early in the morning and whatever else is going on in their lives, put it aside to take care of our kids/teens/young adults with respect and kindness, earning less than they deserve given the impact they have on a whole generation.

I mix up old favorites with an occasional new recipe: scones, coffee cake,  bread with pumpkin or apples in season, an assortment of items I no longer eat regularly but still enjoy preparing, and of course, tasting. I actually had three big pieces of this cornbread, I couldn't resist.  (I always make an extra for the bus drivers and us, just to make sure it's good enough to share...)  It was warm and moist and I couldn't stop, and while I mostly was motivated by pure gluttony, there was a bit of simply wanting to pause and take in the love and gratitude with which it had been  made. Everyone wants to feel valued, even the baker.

So when you read this on Thursday, or Friday, or whenever you get around to it, please stop and let someone who teaches or helps others know how much she's appreciated.