The office staff left a message on my desk today with a note to call Mrs. N. back about a "personal" matter. Messages marked "personal" never bode well; the parent usually wants to talk about a problem at school, an impending divorce, or worst of all, a recent death in the family. I called Mrs. N back with some trepidation, bracing myself for some bad news, but it was a wonderful surprise when I heard her voice, brimming with laughter, saying, "I brought something back from Indonesia for you!" She had remembered our conversation from months ago, about how much we both loved pempek, Indonesian fish patties. I had told her how my grandma used to make them, and I couldn't have been more touched that Mrs. N had taken the trouble to bring some back for me from halfway around the world. She showed up later in the day with an enormous bag of food; along with the pempek, she also brought some specialty fish crackers from Jakarta and a homemade sauce of hers to eat the pempek with.
Somedays I leave the office frustrated or anxious, with challenging cases or difficult parents on my mind. But today, today was an especially good day, thanks to Mrs. N. It is gratifying to know that true generosity and kindness really does exist. Plus, I fried up a batch of that pempek tonight, and it was delicious.
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