Day 9 Slice of Life Challenge

Is there a happier sound than someone else in the kitchen making dinner?  My husband is busy cooking and my two home-from-college-on-break kids and I lounge in the family room.  I’m mentally running through my day, wondering what to write tonight while they are reading—Joe Hill and Wendell Berry.  That choice pretty much sums up some significant differences in them:  Connor preferring Joe Hill—author of ghostly stories, horror and supernatural and Addie opting for Wendell Berry—farmer poet and environmental activist. I love that my kids love to read and I love to watch them reading.  I figure if my husband and I did nothing else right, we did instill this deep appreciation for words and books.

Kurt periodically calls out questions from the kitchen and I respond.

“Do we have garlic?” 

“On the door of the fridge.”

“Where’s the tomato paste?” 

“I bought a tube of it.  It should be in the pantry.”

“Oh, I need tomato puree, not paste—do we have any?” 

“Nope.”

Addie lies down and tucks her head against my thigh.

“I’m tired.” she murmurs and yawns. 

“How’s your ear?”  I ask.  She moves her hair away so I can see the piercing.  “What’s that called again?” 

“The targus,” she says. 

“Well, it doesn’t look as irritated anymore.”  She yawns again and I rub my hand over her hair, brushing it away from her ear and temple.  She’s warm, soft, and sleepy against my thigh.

Kurt clanks pots and pans in the kitchen and tantalizing smells drift into the room. 

Connor turns a page.

I begin to write.