the 6:00 a.m alarm vibrates me awake. wearily, i perch my glasses on my nose and wobble to the bathroom. a few groans and grunts as i turn on the shower. 'no, no, no, no, noooo!' i whimper. as the water heats, i scurry into the kitchen and turn on the front burner, set the frying pan down atop it, throw in a pad of butter and let it sizzle. then - 'crick, crick, crack!' - i pour an egg into the sizzling fat and let it fry. sprinkle with a little seasoning, reduce the heat to low and run into the bathroom for a two minute shower. scrub, scrub, lather, brush (my teeth), then-  'squeeeeak!' - turn off the water and wrap a towel around me and drip as i jog into the kitchen to turn off the stove. then i toast a muffin, pull on whatever clothing is clean and acceptable enough to work in, work some product into my growing hair, pack my food up, grab my tote bag and run out the door. i turn on the car, do my eight point turnabout to get out of my parking lot, and when i finally hit Grand Avenue, i lay the pedal to the metal and begin my treacherous drive to work. on 880, mattresses are flying off trucks, people are swerving into different lanes, big rigs are barreling past on-ramps in the right lane...my blood pressure immediately skyrockets. the calming voices on NPR do a little to calm me, but by the time i get to work (having had the windows down the entire time to dry my hair) and screech into my parking spot at 6:59 am, i'm shaking ever so slightly. and that's just the beginning. more often than not, there's at least 3-4 more hours of driving on 880 and 101 and 116 and 12 and 580 and 24 and 980 during the day, 10-20 phone calls, too many texts to count, at least 50 emails, thousands of hungry kids feasting on hot lunches, harried administrators, overwhelmed teachers, picky parents...all in the name of getting health(ier) meals into little, growing bodies. sometimes i miss my little eight raised bed garden at my last job, teaching the little ones how to sow radish seeds and harvest arugula, making crafts out of recycled items and reading stories about food markets around the world. but i'm glad to have seen the system from this vantage point as well. and i'm excited for all the momentum that's building in the general public's eye for school lunch reform. a few years ago, california wanted a garden in every school. next stop: a kitchen (that's being used as such) in every school :)