MOTHER's DAY (again)

       It's hard to comprehend a full year at the kitchen—even having been away for the winter.
       Our pre-release crowd was small today, but the resident crowd was larger than usual. I've no clue why these numbers panned out as they did or what causes them to fluctuate. We might suppose the pre-release have more support from family.
       Joey had the beginnings of "the soup" on the stove when I arrived and a dozen cans of vegetables for me to add. "Should we made sandwiches? Maybe we should serve some fruit? What do you think, Miss Joy?"
       Our C&W oldies were louder than usual, lunch came together eventually, and I made 25 sack lunches for tomorrow. Missing today was the exuberance over Mother's Day that was there last year. One young fellow called Happy Mother's Day to me on leaving the dining room. There were two small bowls of soup left over (talk about perfect planning), and a punch bowl full of my applesauce/blueberry/sugar & cinnamon concoction. Joey's serving it again tonight, along with pork ribs. There were several inquiries about the upcoming ribs.
       Joey and I had literally hours to visit uninterrupted as we worked today. He has questions about Mother's Day, to wit: "Miss Joy, why don't people do as much for Father's Day? It seems to me that Father's Day would come first and be more important." He's given it a lot of thought.
       Neither of us understands why this shelter kitchen doesn't have a fully functional can opener. The little one I donated is no longer working. The knives are all dull. I've lost interest in providing more than my willing hands.
       Joey begins his end-of-term exams tomorrow. He's been studying poetry this term, and sociology. Next term he'll get geography and math. I took him some little maps I printed from the computer today. One is of the seven continents spread on a globe shape; the other is a world map. I put a red dot where our town is, writing, "you live here," above it. I outlined France in red and put a dot on the town where I spent winter, and I pointed out England (writing "the royal wedding" there), and the English Channel (Joey's heard about people swimming it, so he has a point of reference). Then I showed him Africa, Libya, Egypt and Pakistan, and made little notes on their recent significance. Maybe now he will be able to explore his big poster-size world map, having seen it scaled down and less imposing. I told him that his assignment for next week is to know where he is!
       About math: Joey does not know his multiplication tables. Three times five is as foreign to him as calculus. I figure we'll start with the two-times table next week, do one number a week, and work our way up. If only we didn't have all those hungry people interrupting us!
      I put together 30 PB&J sacks for the street folks before I left. There were cases of Slim Jims in the pantry, and I made the executive decision to give those things to those who needed them most. I've never actually seen the folks who take those sacks from the bin on the street, but they live outside, and I must assume their food intake is limited in many ways.
       Okay. I'm really, really tired, and I'm becoming irritable with my family. Hope your Mother's Day was great. Got nothing to complain about here!