The Kitchen Island

Our kitchen island is like a great big family hug. We have circled ourselves around this magnificent granite slab many a times and engaged in each others lives.
At the kitchen island we have: played cards and Monopoly, eaten numerous appetizers and snacks, shared meals, done homework, viewed Facebook separately but shared things outloud, consoled each other, laughed, written invitations and thank you cards, lamented the future, reveled at the present, worried, and engaged in plenty of conversations about the day's events.
The kitchen island has been the dumping grounds for: backpacks and library books, bags of groceries and mall finds, large bags of now "senior" dog food, purses, and of course piles of mail.
I love our kitchen island! To me this central kitchen piece is more than a gathering place, more than a place to put things, more than a place to prepare things, it is the thing we see when we first enter our house through the garage. The kitchen island is peace and calm. It welcomes us in and grounds our family soul.