Service With a Smile

“We hope you enjoyed giving us the business, as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”  —Flight attendant’s announcement at the end of a nine hour flight to Rio

My sister retired from teaching special education after 35 years.  Congratulations to her!  Six teachers at my school are retiring at the end of our school year.  Congratulations to them!  Waa!  I want to retire!  All year long I longed to retire to a coffee shop writing all day, watching the hard working folks hustle past the window to their jobs.  But in these past two weeks events have connived to change my attitude back in gratitude.

I’ve always wanted to get back to the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming and thought this would be the summer to do it.  I could camp for a week or so, then drive to Yellowstone.  I prefer to combine my solitude with some group time, so when I read an email from Wilderness Inquiry, an adventure group I’ve traveled with before, I considered their paddle and hike trip in Yellowstone.  They were asking for a trip assistant to help with a disabled person for a significant cut in the cost.  The timing was right for catching the wild flowers in Bighorn before meeting up with the WI group. 

After teeter-tottering for several days, I signed up, but without a deposit.  How’s that for commitment?  I learned the details of the trip: ten people, six of whom are disabled in some way.  That leaves four people and two trip leaders to care for the disabled people by picking up slack, helping them in and out of canoes or with balance and guiding on hikes.  It sounded like a disabled trip, real work and very little adventure.

“Are you crazy?” I said to myself.  My life hit me over the head; I spend seven hours a day, five days a week in service to special needs teenagers.  Then I scuttle off to service at my dad’s place where I wait on tables, act as an interpreter for the weak of voice and the hard of hearing, groomer, and an activities director taking my dad and Max out to the courtyard or leading my three Saturday night dates, the walker brigade, to the movies in the independent living area, then home to needy dogs that aren’t even mine!  “And now you want to spend your vacation in service too?  Are you crazy?”

Still I hadn’t ruled it out.  I envisioned walking alone through meadows of wild flowers, sitting by a mountain river watching a mother moose and her baby in the willows, building a campfire, and  saying, “Wow!  Look at that!” to no one.  The Yellowstone trip promised spots off the beaten path and paddling along rivers I’ve never seen in Yellowstone.  Maybe a week on my own would be enough to handle the service for six days.  Maybe.  And I told myself that many blessings come out of service.  Still, maybe.  Indecision is a disabling position.

Out of the mouths of babes came my dismount from the teeter-totter.  Every Friday we have sustained silent reading in all the reading classes.  I love this day because I get to get lost in a good book, too.  But in my second period class, I don’t get to read my own book.  I read with Pedro because he can’t really read anything past a first grade level.  We’re reading a book called Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson.  It’s a novel written in verse with a variety of different poem forms, by an orphan whose teacher has asked students to keep a poetry journal.  It’s funny and sad and poignant.  When I read this haiku, I laughed out loud: 

Today's a bad day

Is that haiku?

Do I look / like I even care?

Pedro smiled, studying me.  I told Pedro about haiku and he flipped through the book searching for them.  He got out a piece of paper and wrote down the word haiku.  Last week he laughed even before I did at some parts.  And he explained a passage I didn’t understand.  On Monday Pedro asked if he could come to my fifth period class for extra help during his lunch.  I said it was a freshman class and we’re reading a different book, The Bite of the Mango.  He said, “We read that last year.  I remember you cried. Remember, Ms. Leghorn?”  I smiled.  Pedro said, “You read with heart, Ms. Leghorn.  Other teachers just read.  I mean, maybe they read with enthusiasm, but…I can’t explain it.  You put your heart into it.  That’s what I like about your class.”  I told him, “It takes one to know one, Pedro.”  He laughed.  When the bell rang I went to the bathroom and cried.  That evening I paid for my trip and booked my flight.

Pedro led the week of blessings.  Between compliments and thank yous from residents at my dad’s place, amazing speeches praising teachers for their important and dedicated work at the CPS teachers’ rally attended by more than five thousand CPS employees, and the comedy coming from students, I am welcoming the blessings of service.  This week I realize that I’m right where I want to be.  I may not be able to teach Pedro to read at the high school level, but I can show him how to love literature.  Likewise, I can’t meet the needs of all the residents at my dad’s place, but I can serve them coffee with a smile.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “Give what you have.  To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”  I love my job.  I love my life.  I love being of service.  As my friend Jan said, “It’s who you are.”  It takes one to know one, Jan.

This recipe is for Jan, but this time her husband will be servicing her, as he’s the one who likes to cook.

Swordfish Steak with Mango and Squash Salsa

Fresh swordfish steak, enough for two or three people

½ large sweet onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 stalk celery, sliced (optional, Jan)

½ red, yellow and orange peppers, chopped (organic since they’re on the dirty dozen list)

1 small zucchini quartered and sliced

1 small yellow zucchini (summer squash) quartered and sliced

½ large tomato, chopped

½ or more mango, cubed

about 1 T. chili powder

about 1 T. cumin

juice of ½ lime

salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onion, garlic and celery in oil until onions are translucent.   Add peppers, spices and lime juice.  Cover and cook for about 4 minutes.  You may need to add a little water so nothing sticks.  Add squashes and cover for about 3 more minutes.  Cover swordfish with salt, pepper, chili powder. I tried to rub it in but only ended up rubbing it off.  Maybe you’ll have better luck.  Stir in tomato.  Slide the veggies to the outside of the pan and place the swordfish in the middle.  Cover the fish with the veggies and cover the pan.  Add mango. Cook for about 4 or 5 minutes, then flip to the other side for 3 or 4 minutes. 

On a hot Sunday

Serve this up with sangria.

To your heart and health.