Rolls and Tea and a Sense of Urgency

For years, I’ve been known to my entire family as the “rolls and tea girl.” No matter the holiday or occasion, when I’ve called to inquire about what I can do to help with the feast, regardless of the hostess, I’m always told “rolls and tea.”  Now I understand that I come with other gifts important to our family. I always have a new game to play that becomes outrageously fun or stories to tell to entertain while those more kitchen savvy than me prepare our family feast. Yet, the last three Thanksgivings, due to my husband and Rosebro2’s football schedule, we have not been able to travel and I have hosted- for neighbors and friends-Thanksgiving at my home.  Successfully I might add.  Due to the health of my parents, my Aunt Susan hosted Christmas dinner this year. I called a few days prior expecting my same “rolls and tea” speech when low and behold I was asked to fix a family sacred recipe-squash casserole- as well as turkey dressing.  Talk about “be careful what you ask for!”  For two days I planned for the day I would cook these tried and true family recipes. I even did a test run-which I am still not sure why since neither the Rosebros nor my husband will eat the squash casserole.  As would be my life, Christmas Eve came and our church service ran late, we ran into friends at church which led to coffee with them, and then we exchanged gifts with our neighbors, and of course Santa cookie baking had to take place as well as some other Christmas Eve Rose family traditions. This left me at 1am in the kitchen, alone, preparing what I had been asked to serve. I immediately became nervous and worried. This had to go right. This had to be perfect. If not, I’d be the rolls and tea girl again. I had figuratively moved from the kids table to the adult table and I didn’t want to go back. I had planned well. I had every ingredient lined up on the kitchen island. I painstakingly went through every step of the family recipes double and triple checking my measurements and steps and watched the oven daring it to burn as the casserole and dressing cooked to perfection.  On Christmas day, as I arrived with my dishes, I watched as my aunt inspected and gave me a nod of approval. I secretly spied as the many family members filled their plates and ate, and was thrilled when the second round began and dressing and squash casserole were again on everyone’s plate.  I felt pride in my job well done.

As we drove home- a three and half hour drive, everyone in my car slept. I thought about that casserole and dressing and I laughed at my sense of urgency. I laughed at how nervous I was and how desperate I was to get it right.  Like with everything I do, I tried to process why this was so important to me. Most of the men in my family kill what they eat so the perfection of my dishes would not really matter in the grand scheme of culinary delicacies. My own parents have a special diet so they weren’t really going to eat my carefully prepared dishes. My own immediate family was not even going to give it a try. So why then was I so desperate to get it right? Then it hit me. I never have, nor will I ever, have room in my life for complacency. While there was some stress put on myself to get it right. It was healthy stress. I had been given a task and I wanted to get it right, for my family and for me. I felt so important at 1am in my kitchen. I had purpose. I had strength in knowing that I had been trusted with sacred family dishes. In complete honesty, I was relaxed and happy that night with Christmas music playing in a quiet house with the dog by my feet begging me to drop any of the multitudes of ingredients as I chopped, shredded and, carefully mixed. I had little time to get a very big job done and I had no time to be complacent. I had to be superior. Others depended on me.

I started thinking about our work here. Not one student here deserves a teacher who is complacent. Our students deserve for us to plan, prepare, and teach with a sense of urgency. That sense of urgency doesn’t have to be stressful. In fact, it needs to be relaxed. It needs to have a direct purpose and needs to be fun. We work with kids after all! Teaching, much like cooking, can be strenuous work. It can be taxing on our minds-and even our bodies. But much like cooking it can be done with enthusiasm, creativity, and preparedness.  Cooks know their recipes and prepare carefully before getting started. Cooks are busy. They don’t sit in the kitchen. They are moving. Cooks are careful with their time-as they know too little or too much time can be a disaster. Cooks watch their work and make adjustments when necessary. Cooks have a sense of urgency and you, as an educator, should as well. A sense of urgency opens up a classroom full of best practice and is an environment where students are highly motivated, inspired, and equipped to learn and grow. As we turn the page to 2017, I beg of you to evaluate your complacency/sense of urgency meter. What can you change to create a sense of urgency in what you do? How can you move away from rolls and tea to important recipes?