Life-giving Ingredients for love and wisdom: Celebrate them at a Workshop

Learn how to write and video record real life stories that reveal the simplicity and impact of your family's expression of love and wisdom at  a two-part Celebrate Your Life Stories on Paper/Video workshop from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, Jan. 18 and Jan. 25 at the Elmhurst Park District's Wagoner Community Center, 615 N. West Ave., Elmhurst, IL 60126. To register, call (630) 993-8901 or go online at http://www.epd.org/parks/index.asp.

Check out the cherished example below:

Kitchen table conversations

Below zero temperatures and whipping winds stir memories of the warm and cozy kitchen of my youth in Hammond, Indiana. My mom would busy herself preparing a hardy chicken soup to warm our innards. She'd invite me to break open the long green celery stalks and wash the carrots.

With the radio tuned into Don McNeill's Breakfast Club talk show or Paul Harvey's noonday news report, she'd chop vegetables and dice onions. Because she knew I liked it, she'd begin to hum the tune to the famous Mary Poppins musical, "A Spoonful of Sugar." I think this was that special ingredient called love that made cooking for the family something special and worthwhile.

Standing over an 8-quart pot simmering on the front burner of the stove, she'd pour in three or four cups of cut-up cooked chicken and then carefully craft her special recipe for broth. I can still hear my mom saying, "Trisha, the most import thing about a good chicken soup is the stock. Your father likes it a bit spicy, so I add a dash of chili powder to satisfy him, but the key ingredients are four bouillon cubes, eight cups of water, plenty of the strained natural gravy from the chicken, a teaspoon of pepper and a pinch of sage."

 As the steam began coming off the pot, the aroma filled the room.  Then she'd invite me to dip the 12-inch long wooden spoon in the pot and stir. These preparations for homemade chicken soup also served up an opportunity for casual conversation.

My mom liked to use simple things as a way to teach a lesson, make a point or convey the wisdom of my grandmother. One particular bit of wisdom always resonated with me. She'd say, "Your grandmother believed that cooking a good supper was a lot like living a good life and running a business. If your pot isn't clean, whatever you put in comes out spoiled. And if your business isn't honest from the get-go, whatever you produce is foul."

I didn't necessarily understand the analogy at the moment—I was only 6 or 7 years old. I thought she was reminding me to clean the dishes thoroughly. Years later, of course, I realized that she was giving me the ingredients in her recipe for successful living. No matter what career I choose, ethics and values were the spices for Christian living. "You can trust someone who's earned your respect through honest living."