Making dinner is always a special event in the Gebhard-Renkes home. Cocktails are poured, ingredients are sorted – or in today’s edition, obtained from the Grain Train market while wearing slippers – and dancing always ensues. Our house being 140 years old doesn’t have the fancy islands nor multiple stages of cupboards, it’s a simple place for preparing food and dancing. My most popular article in Edible’s Magazine, “Dancing in the Dining Room,” was really about dancing anywhere in the house during the course of preparing dinner. Through all of the negative news and negative weather, we each have our place in America for celebration. And I do mean all of us. If we’re in a small apartment with barely enough space to move, living under a viaduct of a roadway, or lucky enough to be in a mansion, our place is our happiness wherever we are. And I have been everywhere but the viaduct, and that was only because of some luck. Celebrating life is a mindful act of understanding that no matter what tomorrow may bring you can only experience the moment at hand. A difficult chore to be sure, but doable if you concentrate. Thus the meal prep and dancing. Each takes a concentrated effort to enjoy. Don’t be mechanical. Let your spirit soar and enjoy the moment at hand. Making dinner, eating dinner, and washing dinner dishes makes for a several hour prescription of mindfulness that leads to smiles and memories. Do it today. Don’t wait.