I’ve been thinking about change, of course– most of us are– as this New Year begins.

Who can resist the fresh start, the clean slate? 

So appealing….

Yet, I’ve also been thinking about the changes  that I don’t welcome.  For me those changes come mostly with age. And yes, I can complain about the wrinkles and having to color my hair more often but those aren’t the changes that I’m really talking about.

I’m talking about the things that always were, that are now starting to fade away.

Like the kitchen stool in Trish’s kitchen.

I have spent countless hours on that stool, watching my best friend’s mom Trish cook, talking things over– sometimes alone, sometimes with the other women collected in that kitchen for the same comfort I sought.

And Trish delivered that comfort, my whole life.  She was always a source of wisdom and perspective. She’s 81 now and lives on her own.  She lost both her husband and daughter to cancer. And I visit her in her rambling house in Vermont whenever I can. I say it’s to help her. Really, though, it’s to help me. 

During my last visit, Trish wound up in the emergency room.  She found herself suddenly unable to walk.  Now she faces a slow recovery and uses a walker.  It is harder for her to stand in the kitchen.

So our kitchen stool days have changed.  I wonder, are they gone?

It has occurred to me that perhaps it’s my turn to set up a kitchen stool.

I think it may be my time to be what Trish was to me, to others…. After all, I was taught by the best.

What rituals have comforted you?  What people taught you well?  Share Please.

Have a great weekend,

-Rose