Food! I got on this subject – came upon the idea to write about this subject – because it is Monday. Monday is the only day out of the week this building has food delivered to it. It is donated by some branch of the Government.

I’m not sure what branch of the Government provides us unfortunate, yet fortunate (that’s right: I KNOW I am fortunate to get that food – I know what it is like to starve) with those pounds & pounds & bags of bags of food. Nor do I care. Thankful: YES! – It is food!

But I do not question where it comes from.

As I grow older, food keeps proving itself to me not just as an essential thing for survival. Food is a part of how I socialize. Cooking is a part of how I connect with others.

Yesterday I was invited to participate in a Southern BBQ cookoff.

When I read the challenge/invitation I scoffed & thought: I lived in Texas!

No single state in all of America takes BBQ more seriously than the Star State.

So I have to have some credibility.

Right?

And I am no stranger to the Great & Glorious workings of a Grill.

Why not?

Challenge accepted.

Food & cooking excites me. It gives me a separation – a feeling of being separated, because my focus is on the food – yet, cooking, being in the kitchen, provides me with the confidence to be open.

I can deliver my confessions while chopping up an onion; I can drop one bomb of a personal secret while dropping the pasta into boiling water… laughing without being cautious as the chicken is roasting…

All of these things that define what I consider “intimate”.

It’s the closest thing to intimacy I have in my life.

This morning: I’m thankful to report I was cooking ground turkey & eggs for breakfast.

I was not alone.

No: there was no physical presence of another in the kitchen with me. But my Smart Phone would not stop buzzing. Text messages were coming in from several people.

The messages made me smile.

Sometimes, smiles make the food taste better.