Little Things

Our ward hosts a neighborhood block party every summer on the 24th of July. Last year I was serving in the relief society presidency which meant I was on the set up and serving crew. Rather than let everyone grab their own food, we acknowledged the changes Covid has brought into the world and gloved up to serve the food. We wrangled our families into service so we would have enough hands and Nathan was happy to help. I ended up serving hamburgers and hot dogs and Nathan was right beside me adding condiments as requested. 

One of the little girls who lives next door to us came through the line with a spectacular scowl on her face. I joked with her in an attempt to get her to smile, however, my efforts were in vain. I don’t remember if it was my idea or Nathan’s, but when her plate came his way, he used ketchup to draw a smiley face on her hamburger. That didn’t help either, but it began a long series of food that was happy to see everyone. It made me laugh and made many others smile. 

Last night was this year’s block party and since I have been released from my RS calling, I was back to being a guest at the BBQ. Our bishop was on condiment duty this time around and while everyone else got a normal swirl or splash of ketchup on their hamburgers, I got a smiley face. I was surprised that he had remembered last year’s escapades and it made me smile. 

Not only did my food art remind me of Nathan and his constant desire to make those around him happy, but it also reminded me that sometimes the little things are the big things. A text, a phone call, an honest compliment, a sincere inquiry about someone’s wellbeing. Sometimes these tiny gestures make all the difference. Ministering to others doesn’t have to be complicated. Often, we over think things, making things harder than they need to be, at least I know I do. That is why a part of my personal equation for happiness is to simplify. 

For years the sister who was assigned to minister to me never called, never came by, never checked in with me other than our interactions that came because we are next door neighbors and Malia and her kids are friends. But every week when she did her yard work, she would slip over with her edger and trim back the edges on our lawn. It was not life changing, but I knew she was thinking about me and taking the time to serve in her own quiet way. She knew I was ok and that I didn’t need her to come over and share a message with me, but she found a meaningful way to serve. It was a little thing. But like I said, sometimes the little things are the big things. And sometimes all it takes is a simple smile in ketchup to make someone’s day.

Please Pass the Ketchup

Today has been one of those days where multi-tasking has not worked to my advantage. I usually get a lot done by multi-tasking. I start one thing, make a mental note of when I need to return to it, complete several other tasks, and come back just in time to finish up the first one. But today the process did not run as smoothly. I returned home after running a few errands and put some green beans on the stove to cook. Matthew doesn't do so well with things like lettuce, so I keep an assortment of tender cooked veggies in the freezer for the times when we eat what he can't chew yet. That is why I was cooking green beans at 10:30 in the morning. Anyway, I brought them to a boil, turned the stove down, and then walked away, promptly forgetting all about them. Are you seeing the breakdown in my normal process? I continued to the next task, and the next, until all of a sudden I began to smell an absolutely appalling stench. Now you're thinking that this is the point when I'll remember about the beans. Nope. I proceeded to walk around the house trying to figure out where the stink was coming from. I walked through every room, spotting nothing suspicious. I even wandered through the kitchen, looked at the pot ("Oh, yeah. I'm cooking beans.") and continued on my rounds because there was no smoke coming from it. Finally I decided to head outside and see if it was odiferous out there as well. I glanced at the pot and (here is where I finally clue in) wondered if by any chance I had burned my beans. I lifted the lid and whaalaa! Super stink!

After the discovery came the clean up. I dumped the beans, took out the garbage to get the source of the smell out of the house, started de-stinkifying the air with vinegar, cloves, air freshener, etc. As I stood at the sink pondering the possible demise of my most conveniently sized pot, I suddenly remembered that my mother in law uses ketchup to clean the copper bottoms of her pots. I had never personally tried it, but I figured it couldn't hurt. So I scrubbed the crud off the inside of the pot (you can only see a faint outline of where each bean was lying), dried it off and slathered on the ketchup. I let it sit for a few minutes (not as long as I would have if I hadn't just had a very sad experience with multi-tasking) and wiped it off. I was completely astounded. Here is the before and after for those of you who doubt.


I did have to use an SOS pad on the one edge that was completely black (even that was significantly softened), but the rest was all ketchup, no elbow grease required. So for any of you who are considering crispy frying your RevereWare, you might want to keep the ketchup handy.