What the heck is Teadle Door Step?  That’s what my husband said when I used that phrase.  A phrase I grew up with that was used to describe the uneven cut of a piece of bread.  You know the ones that you cut that are not perfectly even?  That’s teadle door step.  I don’t know if that is how she would have spelled it or not, but it works.

That phrase was either coined or adopted by my Grandmother, Ethel Radford…who was really known to many as Granny, may I be so lucky to have the same title someday.   I love that phrase.  It reminds me of my Mother.  It reminds me of my Mother not being angry that I had cut the loaf sloppy, but with a smile because I’m sure it reminded her of her Mother, my Granny.   And I’m also sure, no matter how many times that loaf is cut in a teadle door step fashion or for whom, it won’t be a bad thing.  That’s what labelling the ‘abnormal’ perfect looks like, it’s comforting, it’s including and it’s a legacy.  Because a teadle door step slice will always be perfectly teadle door step.

As Jane Fonda said, “We aren’t meant to be perfect.  We are meant to be whole.”  Maybe the challenge is in learning that perfect is actually elusive more than it is achievable, maybe we are meant to accept the abnormal and make it our normal?  And I agree there are right ways and wrong ways to do things but I also agree that instinctually we fall back on our ‘rightness’ when we fail or are fearful to see the possibility of a less perfect yet equally as good method.  What have you been holding on to and forcing that your team, your family or your partner isn’t buying…maybe it’s time to apply a bit of teadle door step methodology. 

God Bless you Granny and your legacy…and thank you, thank you…thank you.