Last night at the Open Door Shelter was one of these, which brought joy and endless satisfaction. When I arrived, two of the residents told me right away that they wanted to cook with me and asked how they could help. Luckily, this time there were several dishes that could be started at the same time, so there were four of us standing around the table and doing something, and three more just standing by and chatting. And one girl said: you know, it reminds me how it was at home when we were all cooking together! And I told her that that’s exactly how it felt for me!
Another girl asked me whether I minded making a TikTok video of us cooking, and I said I do not mind at all, and we had fun filming different stages of the process.
The staff joined us; there were many simple steps that I could delegate to any of the interested parties. It was great to see how in contrast to previous times, most of the youth hurried to package and put away the remaining unused ingredients and clean the cooking surfaces. I almost lost hope I would ever see such an attitude again!
And everybody liked what we made! No, we didn’t sit for a meal together; this is still months apart, even if things will keep going the way they are going now. But we talked! We talked while cooking, and we talked after. I had some really deep and thoughtful conversations, and I hope to keep developing these relationships.
Before I left, I checked how many meatballs were left – not more than a third of what we made, and most of the mashed potatoes were gone, too. I like when people like what I cook!
A girl who already finished eating asked another one, who just started: do you like it? And after hearing “yes,” continued: then say thank you! The second girl looked embarrassed: she didn’t even think about that option 🙂
I left reluctantly at 8 PM, and we made plans for my next visit, and we also decided to try to go to the movies in the park after the holiday.
… and I know very well that one good day does not really mean that everything will be good next time, but I still feel like “the day is not wasted.”
Hettie's Reflections 