Date night

Tim has to work overnight on my birthday next week, so we decided to have an at-home "date night" last night. Tim sat on the couch playing the guitar while I prepared dinner. As is always the case with our date nights, preparation started hours before we actually ate any dinner. We wanted something healthy and special last night so...

We started with Roast Cauliflower Soup

Ate Rack of Lamb over Mint Chimichurri and baby potatoes

And we finished with Grilled Mascarpone Peaches

Everything was fresh from our garden, the CSA, or the farmers market except the rack of lamb. It was all simple to prepare, and we even found ourselves outside in the dark cutting herbs for the mint chimichurri because I asked Tim for parsley and he brought in oregano!

I love date night.

It is nice to go out to a restaurant, but there is something special about preparing food in my kitchen, my way trying new recipes and laughing when the cauliflower soup shoots out of the top of the blender like a fountain.

This morning I woke up, and even though I knew the kitchen still needed some cleaning, I was content. Wrapped up in Tim's arms is my favorite place to be. In that place, the enemas and catheters and anger and disabilities and disorders all seem manageable. With his breath in my hair, I listened as the rest of the house started to wake up. Isaac first. Then Isaiah. And finally, Esther-Faith calling me from her bedroom, "MOMMY! I'M AWAKE!" Tim squeezed his eyes shut to the sounds of morning and tightened his hold on me. I whispered, "I love you" and kissed the tip of his nose as he let me go to get the kids breakfast.

But the memory of last night. Being in the kitchen together-preparing a fabulous, fresh, and healthy meal-will stay with me for a long time. The memory is mine. A place I will escape to the next couple of weeks when Tim's schedule become unbearable. I will close my eyes and go to the place I feel the most like me: inside of Tim's embrace.

And my kitchen.