DINNER FOR TWO

[Carol Anne Kincaid~Paradis]

TODAY

Dinner for Two by Sharon Farmer from Sun City, Arizona 

I stood in the kitchen, preparing a dinner of meatloaf and loaded baked potatoes for my husband, Nick, and me. I’d loved cooking ever since I took home the Crisco Home Economics award in high school and had enjoyed making hearty meals throughout 50 years of marriage. Well, almost 50 years. Our wedding anniversary was coming up, just a few days after Valentine’s Day. I’d been excited to plan a delicious meal for our romantic evening, but now I wasn’t even feeling the joy of cooking a meatloaf.

A few days before, I’d seen a talk show segment about calculating how many dinners one had made. After subtracting the weekly night Nick cooked, takeout meals and dinners out, I had my number: 17,000! The number left me feeling exhausted and not in the mindset to be in the kitchen.

The oven timer dinged, and I tested the meatloaf. It was saltier than I liked. I sighed and turned to prepare the condiments for the loaded baked potatoes. I opened the new carton of sour cream and stopped. There on the top of the cream was a perfectly raised heart. Or was it the shape of angel wings?

I returned to cooking with renewed energy. And sure enough, Nick proclaimed that meatloaf one of my best. Just wait till he tasted the anniversary dinner I had in mind for us valentines. My angel sous-chef and I had big plans.