kitchen table talk

There is something about about sitting around an all too familiar table looking into the eyes of faces you've known for years. These faces may have changed or altered slightly over time, but they remain familiar, comforting pillars, seemingly unchanged in a number of ways. The other night, like so many evenings these days, I found myself seated at one such table, surrounded by such faces, discussing the delicate intricacies of our complicated little lives... the heartaches of romance, the frustrations of text messaging, plans of travel and adventure, the all too quick passage of time, and the never ending battle against growing up and living life. I found myself in the midst of heart felt, in depth conversation with individuals of varying gender and generation, table talking over birthday cake, red wine, and an array of Trader Joe's chocolates.

And it was there, at the kitchen table, where we let down our guards and opened our mouths to talk, to share, to gain insight and seek sage advice. We sat down at the kitchen table to get a better grasp on our lives.

Five hours later I went home, and the next afternoon the kitchen table became a patio table... new faces, new topics of conversation, yet the edifice practically the same. And so it seems the image continues shifting as I find myself sitting at kitchen counters, breakfast nooks, park benches, squares of stone overlooking the water, front porch steps and stoops, car seats, check out lines, break rooms, dance studios, warehouse work benches... with the sense of coming together and looking at one another in the eye as we talk to think or think to talk in hopes of expressing thought and gaining insight.

Maybe it's a simple notion, this realization of the countless moments throughout any given day or week I find myself kitchen table talking... regardless of what the "table" looks like or the topics of conversation, or the folks I'm forcing to listen to me. But there's got to be something to that, right? Something about our human nature? Something about our need to share and work through our problems or theories or jokes amidst the company of others? Throw in some good food, good drink, and maybe some groovy tunes and then you're really in business.

But there is nothing like the feeling of sitting around a familiar table, with familiar faces, feeling like as you work through their problems, you're working out your own.