So, last night I brought dinner in to a family whose mother is on serious bed rest. Even sitting up brought on the contractions, so she is flat on her back. Needless to say, the Relief Society is bringing in quite a few meals, and arranging various babysitting assignments for her 2 other kids.

Now, I don’t mind bringing in meals. I actually quite like it, becuase I know the families appreciate it, it gives me a chance to visit with the sister that I can’t see at church, and often, it lets me see a brand new baby! (The bulk of our meals is to new mothers). But even though I like to bring in meals, I am not the best cook in the world. I have been known to let spaghetti boil dry (which, by the way, smells horrendously bad), I have burned pans beyond all recognition (just one pan, actually), and on one glorious occasion even managed to use up an entire carton of eggs, just trying to get one serving of scrambled eggs right.

I solved the problem simply by marrying a man who can cook. (I got nine cookbooks as wedding presents. I think people were worried about me.) Since then, my culinary skills have improved dramatically - but he is still the better chef. And everybody in my ward knows it. And he likes it that way. And I like it that way.

So, now I feel like whenever I sign up to bring in a meal, I have to have him cook it. Since he travels so much now, I feel obligated only to sign up on days when he will be in town. I feel like my meals aren’t good enough (even though I can now make a casserole with the best of them), and we have to show off the culinary prowess of DH.

How wimpy is that? I truly believe all efforts are appreciated, even the ones where the ward member simply calls in a pizza delivery. Maybe I just want people to know we put forth the best effort we could, by having him make it instead of me. Maybe I just don’t want to make dinner for them, because I worry that they will judge my cooking. I don’t really know what it is, but I think there just might be a secret competition among Mormons as to who can bring in the best meal. And if DH doesn’t cook it, we will lose that competition. And, simply put, I don’t like to lose.

Oh, and I make the BEST scrambled eggs now. Too bad they don’t travel well.