My Mother's Kitchen

I had a wonderful dream last night, full of memory and detail. I was cleaning up my childhood home, preparing it for someone who rented it for 24 hours. I know this dream blends my present life because we have a vacation rental house here in the Keys that I manage and recently I checked out the kitchen to make sure it was adequately equipped during a week with no rental. But when I dream of homes, most often I am not in a house that I have occupied since adulthood, but back in my childhood home. Maybe that is because I have lived in so many homes since graduating college, that I haven't been able to form a real attachment to any.

I grew up in a post WWII development, called Kirkmere. My parents built a home in Poland, Ohio but saw this new development, near the city of Youngstown's wonderful WPA enhanced metropolitan park called Mill Creek, and for some reason decided to build there before moving in to the other home. The story has it, that my mother stuck her finger down on the plot map without looking and selected our lot, which was right across from the park and a sensational place to grow up. As children, we were free to roam and hike and play all day without supervision in miles and miles of nature with streams, waterfalls, lakes, glacial outcrops, nature trails, playgrounds, etc. Growing up in the 50's was not bad! I do not remember being anxious about strangers, perverts, pedophiles, kidnappers or the like - although there were a few strange incidents like the ski mask wearing marauder who jumped out when my sister and I were playing golf at the course in Mill Creek - wearing nothing else, or the man who used to expose himself to kids but always so far away out of our vision we thought he was playing with his car keys so it really didn't induce much trauma except to our mothers.

The house itself was not big by today's standards. There were six of us in a three bedroom, one bath home, with an extra toilet and creepy shower in the basement. It was the norm among my friends, and maybe even bigger than many in my circle.

But the dream that I had was about the kitchen. In my dream I was trying to make the kitchen look nice for the incoming renters. I think my entire adult life I have been compensating my own kitchen for what my mother's lacked. There were several things that drove me crazy as I got older. The drawer full of mismatched silver and stainless flatware was one. It was hard to set the little kitchen table we crowded around for nightly dinners (company and Sunday was in the dining room) and have a matching setting. And the dishes were the same. There was a collection of dishes and even later, when we grew up and gave my parents dishes, somehow others who didn't match found their way into that cupboard to present themselves when opened. Dining room dishes and flatware were different than everyday. They matched and looked presentable. But the kitchen was a mess of plastic, china, melamine and corning ware. I even remember a set of aluminum glasses in awesome colors but drinking from them was a strange experience of first tasting metal, than your beverage. And lastly, there was never a pen, or piece of paper handy if you needed to write a note. You would search high and low for any little scrap. I have made it my mission to always have a huge supply of pads of paper and more pens than I can use up in the rest of my lifetime to never have the stress of searching for something to write on or with. And, I will never (well, as long as I have cognitive skills left) have unmatched dishes or utensils. In fact, I have become a crusader for the cause and own more dishes than I have friends and family. I could host a neighborhood buffet.

I realize that my parents raised and sent four children to college on an average income. We always had a yearly vacation. We were dressed adequately. I don't remember feeling deprived. But for some reason, the lasting memory of the kitchen is one that has permeated my memory and dreams. In fact, I can still see into that silverware drawer, with a red plastic organizer and see the mess that greeted me.