Stocking the Pantry

Sometimes you take a look at the same old stuff on the shelf in your cupboard and decide you are no longer interested in your tried and true staples. Nothing there gives rise to your soul, or sparks the gleam in your eye like it used to. Oh sure, they’ve been serviceable for quite a long time – like a daily bowl of grits, or gruel – depending on your perspective. They have a long shelf-life and have sustained you during the leaner times in your emotional and spiritual life. However, everything has an expiration date.

So you look at that shelf and think it might be wise to shop a couple of aisles over, or maybe even try another market altogether. It is time to stock your shelf with a few exotic pleasures, or bring back into service something you haven’t tasted for a very long time and think mmm…mmm, boy does that look good. You know it is time to get a little something special, just so you can dip into it for the first time or double-dip after an overly long absence.

Since you’re in the experimental mindset, you take a look at your fridge. As you are tossing out those unidentified leftovers, you search way back in the ole’ icebox – for what exactly you aren’t sure - but you remember, way back, that you had something stashed in there for a rainy day, or just any day when you needed, well, something else.

We women are amazing creatures. Home is where the heart is, and the rhythm of a household is tuned to the heartbeat of the woman standing at the hearth. Sometimes it beats loud and strong, other times it beats soft and long, sometimes it flutters and other times it stutters. We girls have a multitude of needs, and as we grow into women, we still have a multitude of needs, only now we know how to meet them. We understand the value of a little bit of something surprising stashed away on the shelf just for us. We know that no one else will ever reach all the way back in the fridge, so what we put there is safe, just waiting for us to take it off ice and serve it up to ourselves when the time is right.

As you enjoy your surprisingly full plate, you might decide that, while it’s nice to try new things, you like the comfort of the familiar best. Or you might discover that you have changed, and can no longer limit yourself to the everyday. The new, or in some cases, rediscovered, has brought much needed complexity and flavor to your life. You bask in rich new layers of sensation you simply can’t and won’t ignore. You can’t put it away now – you have tasted too much. You can’t let it rest on the same serviceable shelf with your old staples either – it deserves a bit more care – a special shelf maybe, perhaps under lock and key?

There is nothing quite like the evocative sensation of a little bit of variety and heat to unleash the fullness of life. You know what I’m sayin’ ladies?

I think you do.