I avoided the Gluten Free Craze like I avoid every other extreme diet.

But with the bandwagon filling up fast, I knew it was time to dive in and learn what I could about the Gluten Free Craze–and then to finally experiment myself with a gluten free diet.

The garden reminds me to be still. To feel.
It is there that my mind is cleared of the fog and chaos that builds up from too many hours spent staring at a screen. With my hands in the soil, my elbows brushing bean pods as I yank green weeds from around the pepper plants I learn to feel, so that I can think again.

I had seen his face before. His little eyebrows furrowed in concern, his coffee brown eyes flashed a sudden panic. He was a stranger, but I knew that look far too well.

I have been riddled with guilt.

I was unaware of its presence, or the tarnish of shame, regret, and remorse it was etching into my spirit. I knew something was not right, but, like in most cases, the eyes of my heart were clouded; I could not see what was going on until one moment of pristine and crude clarity.

It was just another thing on my to-do list. One that I wanted to be fun, but instead my busy schedule and lack of time left a dark shadow hanging over it in my mind–Berry picking.

The kitchen teaches me patience, and preserving food is a lesson in delayed gratification. And when my boys watch me milling about–sometimes with my hair tossed in a messy pony tail and still in my pajamas–pacing from the counter to the fridge to the garden to the trash can to the table and back to the counter working on countless food projects at once–they see something beyond the mess.