Half the joy of a long cook is the hours around the smoker talking. Waiting together isn’t wasted time.

Long tasks build a container for being together, and sometimes that is the real output. The hours when nothing needs attention are when conversations happen that would never fit into a busy afternoon, which is partly why people keep volunteering for jobs that take all day. The food is the excuse and the company is the result.

Pick something slow this week and invite somebody to wait through it with you: a long bake, a car wash, a walk with no destination. Leave your phone in another room. Let the empty time be the point instead of something to get past.