I know it’s not just my community because I’ve seen it in so many communities. When someone gets hurt or injured, people rally ’round with casseroles. They’re never going to go out of date. You put a bunch of wonderful things in a bowl (in my culture, it’s usually embellished with cheese), you mix them up, you throw it in the oven and cart it from your house to the house of the one needing food. Or, you mix it up and cart it from your house to the house of the one needing food and they put it in their oven.

If you want to know the scent of a friend’s arms around you, it’s the scent of a casserole bubbling in the oven. At the end of a crazy, difficult day of caring for yourself or your family, nothing inclines one more to the saying of grace than the sharing of food.

Whether it’s facilitated by telephone tree or Google calendar, it is perhaps one of the key building blocks to community. In one of my wedding couples, the husband (and father) died very slowly of ALS. Their community fed them, mowed their lawns and cared for them for months and months. Some never need more than one lasagna. But whatever is given changes one’s involvement in a community forever.

I’m grateful to all the men and women who make love taste so good. Blessings on you all, wherever in the world you find yourself. (And for those in need, don’t be afraid to ask. It can be the sweetest gift you’ll give a friend who really wants to help.)