Appreciating Dishwashers

We have weathered it here at Linda’s, breathed in the heady air of May, then let it go like the fragments of a kaleidoscope. Many of the fragments are of food—platters of Thai Beef Salad, red, white and green caprese skewers, cheese mounded with purple grapes and strawberries. But the pictures that last the longest are the faces of friends who come through these doors and friends who work in the kitchen. Without those, the kaleidoscope would be meaningless.

This month, I’d like to pay a tribute to our dishwashers. Dishwashing was never one of the highlights of my culinary day, and I can dirty a dish faster than most. In this kitchen where deadlines are the headlines of the day, dishes seem to grow with a steroidal ferocity. I could have been buried under them long ago were it not for our dishwashers.

Some of them are regulars, and some are friends who call on impulse and ask if they can visit and wash a few (!) dishes while they’re there.

We never say no, and we appreciate that spontaneity immensely.

But I would like to say a special thanks to our dishwashers who graduated in May—Lorrie Cope, Jamie Sheffield and Lenel Land, who will be leaving us by September to pursue careers that probably involve fewer dishes. These three have tackled stacks of dishes taller than they are and never complained, watched our successes and foibles, listened to our stories and told a few of their own. They have been eminently dependable, and everybody’s blood pressure drops when they come through the door.

Plus, I think most of us know they are smarter than we are. They, along with Lyndee Dudley who bravely took on the deli case on Saturdays, graduated in the top 10 percent of their class.

We have two of them with us for a few more months before their world opens wider, and we will miss them all come September. They make me smile, and they give me hope. I wish them a future of shining dishes.