Soup on a Sunny Day

Hi everyone!

Over the past several days, though life has had me slow down a bit to deal with this cold, I have found that the result has been a wave of new material for my books.  It is exciting, yet a tad bit overwhelming at times.  

I have come to the conclusion that often times writers aren’t born, life just makes us that way.  

Literally during some of the most unpleasant times in my life I have had friends like Sarah Bernard tell me, “WAIT, WAIT – like I know what you are going through is really horrible, but I can only think about your books.  YOU HAVE TO WRITE THIS DOWN!!  I’m sorry, but when I talk to you I just always think of how you need to put this into your books.  Your life is like this tragic comedy, but you have to write it down because no matter what you go through, you always come out okay.”  

Yes, there have been times when we have laughed through the tears and the pain that I have reminded her, “BELIEVE me – I WILL NOT FORGET THESE DETAILS!”

 

So I guess not only do I now have a creative tribe of friends, but I also have an incredible group of friends that have become by surrogate family tribe as well.  My friend Kathy has been rock and has walked with me through one of the scariest times in my life.  Yet we filled notebook after notebook with the tails of this unfortunate adventure, because some things are so unbelievable I just can’t make them up.  My Cajun friend Kim has spent many years on this journey with me and she knows me better than almost anyone.  The list could go on and on and I don’t want to leave anyone out, but that really isn’t my point tonight.

As I made tortellini soup, a favorite at my house when we aren’t feeling well, I couldn’t help but think of how much our lives are like the things we cook.  Sometimes we have to put things that might not seem appetizing at first into our recipes, but when we are done we have created a culinary master piece.

Aren’t our lives like that too?  Sometimes we have to go through times that may seem wonderful at first, yet turn into a disaster, or unpleasant at first - may be hot to the touch, or cold in terms of how we are treated, but isn’t it this combination of hot and cold, sour and sweet, that in the end can lead to the most delectable of creations that becomes out life?

Yes, sometimes life has us slow down a bit so that we can celebrate the aroma of what is around us and what we have been given.  So we can tell what needs to be added to our life and what we need to take away, so that in the end, like food, we feel, warm, comforted, and loved.

Until tomorrow….