Today, I was so lucky to be taken to the forest to look for wild mushrooms (the kind you cook...wink, wink).  This was the first time, after all of the years of getting to cook them, that I was actually taken to the source and able to see them popping out of the ground and peeking through underbrush and forest debris.  I was moved...I can not believe that it was my first time!  The craziest part, and I can't say where this all happened or I will be punished, was that the first place we went was in an area that I had helped plant in the 4th grade.  Our school, Star of the Sea, went out to the clear cut and re-planted the area and today I stood within it and ducked as I walked.  It was glorious.
Then, the mushrooms appeared.  Little golden nuggets of goodness.  We spent about an hour wandering up the hillside and I was continually brought to my knees to welcome another one to my bag.  The boys said we got quite a haul and as we were heading out we heard a distant cry for us to look over here; and boy howdy, it was a feast for the eyes!!!  I was a bit weak in the knees seeing so many glowing from the earth begging to be taken home for our meal.  I heard the call and liberated them from the soil and told them of all the wonderful things I was going to do to them when we got home.  First, I will lay them out and take photos of them.  Second, I will brush them clean.  Third, I will cook them with loving care with garlic, onion, serrano pepper, corn and basil and lay them on a bed of arugula topped with raw goats milk feta and avocado.  I will finish by closing my eyes and savor the sensation running across my tongue and through my body.  It will be a feast to remember.  Actually, if you are still reading....in the next few days I am filming the second cooking episode and I am going to cook them as I did this evening so that you can share in the experience as well!!!
Back to the forest, as we were leaving from the awesome spot, I heard another call and rounded an old stump and there, going down the hillside were lobster mushrooms!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!!  Their color against the dark richness of the earth was something to behold.  All in all we had a fabulous haul and the meal was so incredible, if I do say so myself.  I love sharing food with friends and this took it all to a new level.  Going out and collecting the food first!!  
Moments like these are important to share with our friends.  Being out in nature, be it a walk, a sit at the beach, maybe even a swing on a swing in the park; these are the moments we need to have so that we can move forward with honesty and grace in our days.  Hugging our friends, sitting and not talking, sharing space being there in laughter and tears; those are the ways we grow and deepen our abilities to understand more than who we are but how connected we are with one another.  Our friendships should be more than just the good times.  It is the more difficult times that we are given the chance to grow, to expand.  Those connections are what we need to survive.  Just like the way that the mushrooms grow together in community, without the right elements we are nothing.  There is no chance to grow.  And we should all be courageous enough to grow, even if it just means that we will be a nice meal for someone, or a punch line to someones joke or the comforting shoulder to a friend in need.   
I see you.
With love, 
Daylight

p.s. The first episode will be up soon!  And stay tuned to how you can be invited over to partake in the eating of the food that gets made for the show.