My Crooked Little Kitchen

My kitchen is crooked.  The foundation slopes.  I am used to it now after almost 2 years but I had some major balance issues when I was first moving in during the summer when it was 100 degrees for a consecutive 100 days.  Not a good combo.

I am not a kitchen gal but this kitchen has been a healing place.  A place for joy and new adventures.  This crooked kitchen has yellow curtains that took me a long time to find.  It has no dishwasher.  There are not enough cabinets, nor counter space.

But you see, this crooked kitchen is where I paint.  It holds my giant sized easel that is taller than me and has rollers.  This kitchen is where I turn on my music and let the colors pour out onto the canvas and out of my heart.  There is paint everywhere and I will have a mighty clean-up job when I move out but I am OK with that.  Paint spots on the floor and the cabinet under the sink has a streak of orange.  Lots of pain spots in the sink.  And even a few spots of paint on those yellow curtains from a paint party when I had 4 friends over.

I love this crooked kitchen now.  I am getting ready to move and one of my main questions is “where will I paint?”  This kitchen has heard me cry, scream, and rant.  I pray out loud.  It was in this kitchen that I was standing on the phone when my ex-husband asked me if I wanted to reconcile…and I later said NO.  It is this kitchen that has held me as I ached in pain with a kidney stone.

My crooked kitchen has also allowed me the freedom to cook.  I am not a domestic, Martha Stewart kind of gal.  But in this kitchen I have made meals and invited friends over to share them with me.

This kitchen is crooked.  My life is crooked….or not what I thought it would be at this age.  I am 40 years old, divorced, no children, and no family near by.  I have no man in my life.  I have amazing friends.  I have a cat named Zander.  I have a career that I have carved out for myself that gives me great job and challenges me daily.  I weigh 10 lbs more than I did last year, but I weigh 40 lbs less than I did at my highest weight.  Thus is life, the ebb and the flow.  The journey through the crooked places.

So I will always cherish this goofy crooked kitchen and how it changed me, embraced me, and created me.

Diane Cunningham is the Founder and President of the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs. She is a “business therapist”, plane crash survivor, author, consultant, speaker, marathon runner, and fun friend.

Find out more about NACWE and why 165 women joined in the first year at www.nacwe.org. Connect with Diane at www.facebook.com/DianeCunningham for fun updates, silly videos, and lively conversation.