k-k-k- ...

is a challenge! But there are certainly some contenders...

Kisses * Kids * Kin * Kindness * Kitchens * Knitting * Knowledge

Way, way, way back in the rough draft of time I was asked an interview question that I no longer remember. What I do remember is the answer: I wanted the kind of life where friends dropped by on a Sunday afternoon and we sat around the kitchen table and talked, nibbled at some food, made a meal, poured some wine--you get the idea. The interviewer nodded knowingly and summed it up like this: "soup and therapy."

In that good conversations with friends can certainly be therapeutic I suppose she was right, but the idea of people who enjoy each other's company gathered around the table just feels like home to me. It's no secret that kitchens are gathering places. Food and fellowship offer comfort to the soul, and all souls benefit from comfort (just not too much food!). I suppose it was that idea of home that appealed to me. I can also recall spending several days with a friend at her parents' home, and waking up the first morning I was there to hear voices coming from the kitchen. There was joy in that experience as well, since, as a single person living alone, my waking moments were always to silence. Companionship, the company of another, the assurance that we are not on this journey alone is something I think we all too often take for granted.

That awareness makes it all the more important that I have a kitchen in which others find comfort, that I show kindness to all that I meet, and that kisses, like the kiss of peace that St. Paul encourages, be part of the way I let people know that they matter to me. To that end, I blow a virtual kiss you to you all today, with my love and appreciation for your company on the journey.