My mom’s kitchen is a special place where love and magic mix. She’s a prof chef by standards of practice. As a child, I remember my mom getting up early mornings to make my siblings and myself a hot breakfast as we would stand in the cold winter mornings waiting for the school bus.

Home-made cooking is her specialty – it comes to no surprise, she has a green thumb, so anything she puts her hands in either grows magically or tastes like heaven.

As a mother of eight children, being a caretaker, cook, jack of all trades – has been her career for the last forty years. I say career because like any  career you learn the skills and knowledge to become proficient at your job. It’s a daily routine per say.

Routine: Performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason. (Google Definition)

Recently I was over my parents house for breakfast – my mother of course in the kitchen with my sisters and myself. All of us cooking – yet my mother knew tricks to the trade to be efficient in the kitchen. I wanted to take out a plate for the bacon, my mom said, ” put a napkin down beside the pancakes (she already had a tray full of fluffy pancakes) and place the bacon there”. Why didn’t I think of this easy solution, a no-brainier. My younger sister said something that had me thinking, she said, “this is her career”, and as fortunate as I am to work within an office setting as my other siblings. My mother’s career as a caretaker, cook, jack of all trades – paved and paid the way for us. I cannot expect to enter her kitchen and have the same skillset and experience as her. In essence none of can because she allowed us to pursue an education, to explore the possibilities of our independence as women. However, it’s in her determination and hard-working mindset that we carry her legacy as a strong woman.

It was in the kitchen that we learned the value of what it means to have a genuine routine – she does not cook for a special reason, rather she does it because she herself sees others as special people to care for and feed. After decades of cooking – she’s a leader that doesn’t sit and watch, rather show and explain why as she knows a better way. You can add leadership skills to her already full resume. In my mother’s kitchen you may eat a delicious meal – but leave with a valuable lesson if of course you pay attention.