"A" for Effort

Poor Jeff. I put him in charge of dinner duty this week since I'm working overtime. He was so excited to make homemade pizza tonight. He spent hours kneading the dough and letting it rise in the oven yesterday in preparation for tonight's dinner. The final result? In his words--not mine--"It's bad!" The pizza was, well, doughy. Grossly undercooked. But on the bright side, the toppings were great--fresh mozarella cheese, tomatoes, basil, mushrooms.
Jeff's now lying on the couch in defeat. He said it's his first and last time in the kitchen. Gosh...I hope not! I tried to encourage him on his effort and thanked him repeatedly for stepping up and trying to make a homecooked meal on a week where I'm slammed at work. But as we cleaned up in the kitchen tonight, Jeff said, "Catherine, this makes me appreciate what you do for our family every night." Wow. Who cares about inedible pizza? That acknowledgment filled me up this evening.