With all of our recent issues with my truck lately, we've been late to preschool pickup a few times. I always call, and I always apologize. And I know people understand that these things happen, but still. I am not that person. I'm habitually early, that's just who I am. Kids can complicate that, of course, but I work hard to be on time.
It was difficult to know that my actions, however unintentional, were keeping people after their work day should have ended. And I kept trying to think of something to do that would let them know that I understood their time was valuable and that I appreciated what they had done to help us out. I tried to think of the things that used to make me happy when I worked outside the home, those unexpected moments of kindness from other people. It always came back to food (that's who I am, too)! And that made me think of the best chocolate chip cookies ever (found on one of my favorite sites here). Who doesn't like homemade chocolate chip cookies?
So, I baked a batch the day of our most recent late pickup. It was only five minutes late this time, mostly a result of being a one-car family and unexpected traffic, instead of the 40 minutes last time, when my truck wouldn't start and the husband had to drive home from across town to get car seats and then go on to school to get the boys.
The next morning, I dropped the kids off as usual and then pulled around to the little parking area in back. I walked the cookies inside (with a little note thanking the staff for all that they do to help our boys) and just handed them to the first person I saw, who happened to be Xander's teacher. Her answering smile was enough to know that I had made a good choice.
Just about every teacher I have seen since that morning has said thank-you and told me how much they enjoyed the cookies. A small gesture of thanks goes a long way. A good cookie doesn't hurt either!
I also included the recipe in the beginner cookbook that I made for our cousins Kate & Josh's wedding. Below is the JPEG file of the recipe in that format, and if you double-click on it, you can either print or save it for yourself if you want!
.jpg)