We gave them $100. They made someone’s day. 9 stories

Nominated by Esty G.

My mother, Mrs. G., is a whiz in the kitchen. Cooking, cutting, slicing, dicing, she’s always busy with something. Caramelized cubes of sautéed onions, meticulously sliced meat, chicken cutlets carefully carved, perfectly prepared potatoes…

It’s not even always for my siblings and me, although we do eat a lot. Very often it’s “mitzvah cooking” — for kiddushim, vorts, shalom zachars, kimpeturin. Food has always been the language she uses to passionately express to those around her, “I care!”

Back when COVID-19 was racing through our lives, we went to quarantine in our bungalow in the mountains. It was nice to get away, to enjoy freedom from our suffocating four walls back in Monsey.

We transported everything we might need — and more — including our kitchenware. But then the kitchenware accidentally stayed behind, while we returned home.

My mother went back to slicing and dicing, but this time with the solitary knife she found in the kitchen drawer.

My mother doesn’t need fancy knives, she can make do with anything, but better knives would make her time in the kitchen easier. She keeps saying she should really buy more knives, but life is busy.

I nominated my mother for $100 worth of nice kitchen knives.

My mother was so touched that I’d thought of her: She felt appreciated for all the hard work she puts into our family. I saw her mixed feelings of being humbled and proud, excited and overwhelmed, all at once. Whichever way you “slice it” I knew how happy she was, because as an expert eavesdropper, I heard her recount the winnings to all her family and friends....

We went to the local home goods and had a wonderful time choosing specialty knives for slicing meat, butterflying schnitzel, and peeling vegetables.

My mother said she’ll have to learn how to use them all properly, but she’s excited. And now that solitary knife in the drawer has some very fancy company.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 736)