Sometimes a kitchen table makes all the difference. It is a place of celebration some days. It can be a place to remember or a place of great expectations. The kitchen table bears our burdens, hears our secrets and knows the desires of our hearts. Mine has done all of those things-just this week.

My dear friend, Rae visited the rabbit patch this week. I had set a pretty table with all white dishes and fancy glasses. When loved ones show up at “Sweet Home”,  it’s an occasion and I take great pains to make that clear. I do not consider it work as I love the whole ordeal tremendously. The meal was a simple one as time had not allowed me any sophisticated plan, but Rae was full of compliments anyway.

We walked through the young woods I call the rabbit patch after our supper.  We stopped to smell the jasmine and wisteria under their brightly colored canopies.  The path we walked was covered in lavender snow.  The fields were silent and several moments we were too. Rae and I have been friends since our children were very young.  I have several friendships that have stood the test of time. They mean the world to me and provide such comfort.

Lately, I have had a lot on my mind about the season I am in. I am mostly older now.  My children grew up, and I was the last to know about it.  All of those details that come with raising a family are gone like the wind!  The remnants of the farm, that I live on seem so much bigger, as does the house. 

The kitchen table is often a quiet place now-until a holiday,which is anytime my kids come home or the “Sunday dinner” with mama and daddy. Those are my favorite times.

I may be in unfamiliar territory these days-in fact, I often compare this time to when I was fourteen and in the deep shadows of childhood.  Such crossroads are so mysterious. It is like when Alice went down her own rabbit hole and said “I can’t go back to yesterday, I was a different person then!” 

The kitchen table does come in handy at times like this!  If I solve any of my current mysteries-you can bet it will be because of prayers around that little table in the kitchen. Sometimes an angel “comes calling” to join forces with you and they may look like an old friend just coming for supper.