I’m making taco soup for dinner tonight. In fact, it’s simmering on the stove top as I type. It’s a recipe I scribbled down from one of my dearest friends and I’m starting to learn why people enjoy cooking. This particular recipe meets two of my cooking favorites: 1) You can make it in 1 pot. 2) It’s simple. But more than that, it’s a meal that reminds me of our many girls’ nights at her house. Of the 4 of us friends sitting around the table downstairs, eating lime chips and catching up on life. That’s what meals are. The good ones anyway.

I think it has something to do with becoming a mother, but I’ve started to appreciate the routine of cooking a meal or cleaning a home more now than I did before. Children grow routine in homes. I know I’m supposed to be cultivating that routine for her but she has sown the seed.

And it’s wonderful.