My Kitchen, My Center

Just moments ago I was catching up on reading some of the blogs I follow. And I came across SouleMama's post Miss Mae's Coffee Crisp. She starts the post talking about how her kitchen is not only the center of her home but the center of her Self. And I was struck with the truth of this notion. The kitchen in my family is the heart of any and all matters. People congregate in the kitchen, despite more comfortable seating in other rooms. We chat, we laugh, we cry, we eat, we create, we pray, we share, we bear our hearts and souls to one another. I've long known the importance of a kitchen. It doesn't matter the location, be it my mother's, father's, grandmother's or uncle's house I gravitate to the kitchen. Yet until recently I haven't realized the depth in which my own self blossoms from my own kitchen.

Growing up my mother's kitchen was always a welcomed place. My mother is an extraordinary cook, who not only loves to cook but loves to feed. In my knowledge no one is excluded from my mother's table or my mother's kitchen. There is always room for a friend, even a stranger. Always enough food, despite her worries otherwise. And the love that flows out of her kitchen and out of her manifest in my own desire to feed those I love and more. While I never thought I would experience the joy my mother does while cooking, I always wanted my kitchen to be a place of joy and love. What I didn't expect was to find exactly that joy in which I watch my mother possess. I think I finally understand my mother's love and joy surrounding her kitchen. In my kitchen I cook and bake in order to feed those I love. I talk and laugh, deeply communicating with those around me. But more than all that, the daily rhythm of creating food, to nourish and nurture, connects me with the human race as a whole. Through my kitchen I am connected to my mother, my father, my grandmothers, and their mothers, to women and men both here and gone who too have stood in front of a stove or mixing bowl preparing to feed those around them. I find my center, my self, both as an individual and part of a community. I find peace. Most importantly, in the process of feeding others I feed me.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my kitchen. It's alot smaller than my old one and I'm still getting use to it. But slowly I'm growing more and more comfortable within this small space that I consider so important.