A good portion of my life is spent in a 64 square foot area in my kitchen at home. It’s in the shape of the upper left hand corner of any square you might imagine. At the bottom right sits a laptop – the one I’m typing on right now. Just to the right of that is the stovetop with the oven below. A somewhat precarious position for a laptop to be. In three years it has survived on this precious real estate without incident. Working just below the cupboard that holds the spices, the oils, the honey, and the flour we use to make pizza dough, bread, waffles, pancakes and so much more – all from scratch.

To the right of the stovetop is the beginning of the counter top. About three feet until it bends into a right angle and heads toward the sink. A sink where I’ve washed maybe fifty different dishes a thousand times. To the right of the sink sits the drying rack with the dishwasher below. There are many dishes that get washed by hand in our house because they deserve the extra attention and care.

I’ve installed some very simple lighting in key places. It won’t win any awards, but it will do until we have the money to remodel. One set of LEDs that look like little UFOs I installed above the stovetop so that I could actually see what I was doing this winter while I cooked. The other I installed a few years back. In the corner of that ‘L’ and below the cupboards where the plates and glasses live so quietly. Right above the corner of this 64 square feet where a good part of the action takes place, sometimes all day long.

I had grown tired of the clamp light that I had hung one evening above the window that fits neatly into the corner. I was frustrated with the work I was being asked to perform in my own shadow all the time. I’m not sure who designed the lighting in this 50+ year old house, but it wasn’t a cook or a writer. Laura is always able to put up with things like this better than I can. Though when the lighting was installed in both places (when she wasn’t around) she was pleased to put it to good use.

My work in this space takes place mostly on weekends, holidays, and any other day I’m home instead of at work. I move back and forth and side to side constantly. Sometimes stopping to stretch my back and my hamstrings. If I had it my way, we’d have those industrial anti-fatigue mats all over the floor. That idea doesn’t go over very well with the head chef. Again, she always seems better equipped to tolerate the imperfections in this space than I am.

One day we will re-model this 64 square feet. Make it bigger, better, and even more efficient. Make it a place that I could be for the rest of my life and be content. Make it a place where when two people are working at the same time, they’re not rubbing shoulders or stepping on each other”s feet.

Until then, we make the most of it and often talk about how much better it is than say, what Abraham Lincoln was working with back in the mid 1800s. It’s glorious compared to those conditions. But it’s still too small. Especially when you have to spend so much time there, in the work of nourishing both yourself and your family. And that’s what this process is really about you know – nourishment. You have to eat, so you might as well eat well and stop looking at it as a chore.

This is where most people in our culture today go wrong I think. They get bogged down in relating to their nourishment as ‘work.’ They’re busy, working hard, and not home very often. So they choose to purchase their meals out in the jungle, where they’ve been processed to perfection in order to make them available quickly and at any moment they’re desired. This is a bad combination. The formula of being too busy to take the time necessary to nourish yourself. This is an important job for you, for anyone. All the way down to the thousands and thousands of dirty dishes you will wash over the course of your lifetime. A simple chore, that when practiced with the right intention will change your perspective on life, love, and the pursuit of your next delicious meal.

So, on a Sunday morning, I will finish typing this piece while sitting warm in front of the fireplace. I will then plug it back in to it’s perfect location in the kitchen where it will deliver me stories through NPR as I begin the work of preparing breakfast, and then ALL of the other meals for the day.

I will think of you and hope that you can find the same kind of solace in the process that I do. Because if you can’t, one of two things will happen. You will resent the work, and your intention will infiltrate your food in negative ways. Or, you will resent the work and then avoid the work, and end up eating poorly as a result.

The latter of these last two choices will lead you down a road that only ends in despair. You might not realize that at the time, but one day, when you do find your way, and you experience the access to energy that good nutrition provides you, you will wonder how you managed any other way.