chicken soup, for the soul

I made chicken noodle soup tonight. I never make chicken noodle soup.

Of all the dishes one can make for a loved one, homemade chicken noodle soup is special. it is a penance, an offering, a prayer:

"God, if there is a God, accept this offering of care, this labor of love, and imbue it with the power to heal the one I love."

Stirring and dicing in the kitchen I recalled college chemistry classes, when i would pretend that simple redox experiments were the beginnings of research into a Great Cure -- for AIDS perhaps, or cancer. I thought back to the books I read when I was a little girl, books of Native American shamanic ways, and of feminine wisdom and witchcraft.

I suppose I enjoy singing and cooking and playing a monk in Guild Wars for the same reasons: to heal, to create, to nourish. It's a sad thought, to wonder about one's missed calling.