they're handing out doughnuts and pizza pies

In Preparation for Marriage we do this thing where you sign up for a Friday to bring something that symbolizes what you "bring to the table" in your relationship. Food is preferred, because it's 8 in the morning and people need the extra energy.

So I signed up for a day and started thinking about what I wanted to bring. I had it narrowed down to ham'n'cheese puffs and rolls. I asked my mom and my sister and they both said that our famous rolls would be the best shot. I had some homemade raspberry jam in the fridge, too, that wasn't get used at all because I don't eat bread. So, great, rolls and jam.

But we were supposed to talk about how that showed what we brought to the table in a relationship. People so far had been saying, "We like making these cookies at my house." I wanted to be different. I thought at length about it.

It was about 5 in the morning when I started making the rolls for class that day. I didn't have a whole lot of hope that they would turn out, because I have this weird curse of things I make never looking/tasting the way they should. "That's something I can bring to the relationship," I thought when it didn't look like the rolls were rising. "Failures despite effort."

When it came time to taste the rolls, they seemed to be okay. Actually, they were pretty good. By that time I decided that the real thing I was bringing to the table was raspberry jam, to make me look domestic. The rolls were just to eat the jam with. Of course, I didn't make the jam. But I could've!

(That's what I bring to the table, I thought. Credit-stealing.)

I wanted the rolls to still be warm when I got to class. It was 7:30 and time to leave. I wrapped them in foil and then in two plastic bags to insulate them. Then, to insure that they didn't succumb to the brisk morning air, I stuck the package inside my jacket and wore it to school. I was holding it from the bottom, which looked sort of silly, especially when it started falling out.

"That's it," I decided, head held high against the weird looks I was getting. "I bring to the table a lack of caring what I look like as long as the function is improved. These rolls are not going to be in the best shape ever after their travail against my stomach, but they'll still taste good. And they'll be warm."

So I got to class, displayed the rolls proudly in their foil-and-grocery-bag decor, and was a huge hit.

But the teacher didn't give me the opportunity to say why they represent what I bring to a relationship. I was disappointed, and decided that all that rumination called for a blog post. So there you go. :)

"City Hall" ~ Vienna Teng