31 Moments in Time :: in the kitchen

An InLinkz Link-up

The long awaited and much coveted Family Dinner Night finally happened this past Sunday.  It has been far too long since we have gathered at this table... there are still too many missing from it.  What wasn't missing was laughter and of course, good food!  I made one of my best pans of stuffed shells ever!  I think I must have seasoned it with a lot of love. 

As the yummy, cheesy shells sat waiting on the kitchen counter I spent some time reminding our beloved little Kashie boy about what happened the last time such a delicious dish waited on the counter and how I came in to find him covered in cheese, with delectable sauce all over his lips, and just exactly how he came to have that odd shaped, permanent lump in his skull.  We came to an agreement that I could trust him this time.  I know he looks very innocent but don't fall for it.

After dinner the kids and I rushed to the kitchen to make a quick batch of fresh strawberry shortcake.  Yum, sweet biscuits hot from the oven covered with still slightly frozen strawberries that we picked earlier this summer.  Sam's favorite dessert.  As we wove our way around each other in our kitchen that was purposely designed to be just a bit too small, I realized what my mind never really comprehended about why I wanted a small kitchen.  The repeated weaving of our body parts over a lifetime, as we reached for what was needed, wove our hearts together and created a family.   Over the years, not all the children in our kitchen were flesh and blood, just as not all of the young adults in our kitchen Sunday night were my flesh and blood, but I count them all as family.  

I also remembered fondly of the days when little feet were running around in there as I tried to make dinner.  Kids and dogs rolling around under foot with me trying to burn neither food nor child.  All the while, keeping one eye on that disgusting snake housed in a tank on one end of the kitchen counter, hoping he hadn't escaped and eaten the hamster housed on the other end. Parakeets squawking  from across the room trying to compete with all the noise.  Oh, and music, always music... and me... feeling as if I just might loose my mind if I didn't get some peace and quiet.  

The peace and quiet is here now.  It came so much faster than I thought it would.  I may very well have lost my mind along the way a time or two... or three, but it was all worth it. If I can quote my lovely daughter Chelsea Rose, "The best things happen in our kitchen."