a secret ingredient

It started like this.

“We are going to make my recipe today. I wrote it all down and there’s a secret ingredient…” pronounced a lovely from the back seat of our car.

“What’s the secret ingredient?” interjected the other lovely.

Sheepishly, but not willing to retreat, the first lovely whispered, “LOVE.” Her face reddening with the boldness of the very word.

“You can’t put LOVE in there! How are you going to buy that ingredient?”

Many moons ago, I remember reading that whenever you prepare food, it is wise to think loving thoughts. Almost like a blessing as you go about the task. For your thoughts and emotions become part of the food. And then part of those who partake of it. Whether it seems extravagant, improbable, or precisely perfect to you, I loved the very notion. And over the years, it has become ritual. In everything I do. Mostly.

“I’ll tell you how you put LOVE in there,” I intervened. “You think it, you feel it, and then it magically becomes part of your recipe. I do it when I make a bed, as I fold the laundry, while I paint a room, if I bake something delicious, when I hold your hand. That’s how you make LOVE the secret ingredient.”

The first lovely swelled like a full moon, so pleased with her idea and, I think, herself. For she had trusted her thoughts enough to share…even if she wasn’t entirely certain about the mechanics of her secret ingredient. As for the other lovely, I watched as she would still herself randomly the rest of the day, give LOVE a good + long thought, and carry about her tasks…spreading it throughout our home.

All-in-all, it was a very love-ly weekend.