ODS dinner on Wednesday – first time after two and a half months of absence. My emails remained unanswered, or the dates were confirmed when it was already too late, or something else. I thought for a hundredth time that I need to put my ODS volunteering on pause, but two weeks ago, when I was coming home on the Red Line, somebody called me from the seat facing me, and I saw J., one of the residents. It took me a couple of seconds to connect her face to a different environment, but both she and I were equally happy to see each other! There was a whole group of ODS residents, and I knew two others – at least their faces were familiar; and J. happily explained about the other two that “they were new.” And then she started to explain to them that I come and cook. I told her that I am finally scheduled to come on February 25, and I knew that I had to stick with this date no matter what.
When I checked in the day before, I was informed that they only have ground beef, rice, and frozen vegetables, and it’s up to me what to make. I took a celiac and some dark pink farmers’ carrots from home, and stopped at Target on theway to ODS to pick up frozen peas and brussels sprouts. I hoped they had potatoes (they always had!), but it was the end of the month, and I was told there would be no potatoes until Tuesday.
I sighed and started making my signature vegetable soup, using ground beef instead of turkey and rice instead of potatoes. I brought a jar of Vegeta with me, which helped! By some miracle (mostly me promptly removing the grease from the soup’s surface), it ended up being surprisingly good. Another miracle was that not only J. hung out in the dining area with me, but also several “new” boys and even girls were ready to socialize. They asked lots of questions about me and my cooking, came for seconds, and thanked me for the soup multiple times. And they didn’t get back to their rooms for a while, so we chatted for another hour.
N. (my favorite staff) was very sympathetic and told me to text her if I have scheduling problems again 🙂
Hettie's Reflections 