A Childhood Kitchen

The carpet was brown and the tile was speckled. And although my parents knew these weren’t the most attractive decorative decisions, having two young children and a dog meant lots of messes. So why not have flooring that covers those stains? Along with this theme, my mother was almost always cleaning the kitchen. One night I insisted to do the dishes after dinner, and ended up accidentally using an entire bottle of dish soap. Don’t ask me how it happened, I couldn’t tell you. All I remember is that my mom was still grateful I had tried to help.

Two facts about me when I was a child: I hated taking my vitamins, and I was sneaky. Every night during dinner, my mother would put chewable vitamins on my plate next to my food. They always ended up gone, so she always assumed I had eaten them. They disappeared alright, but they didn’t go to my stomach. We had an old heater whose system lined the bottom of our home, all around the dining area and near the kitchen. There were small spaces in the heater; small spaces where small things, such as vitamins, could be stuck. I would wait until my parents weren’t looking, and then slide the vitamins into the heater. It was genius, right? They’ll never find them there!

Wrong. Months after this had been going on, my dad started a project to clean the heater. All of a sudden, about 60 vitamins fall out of it and into his hands. Of course they knew it was me – my sister loved the taste of Flintstone’s vitamins. I immediately broke down and started apologizing, hoping they’d take pity on me. But all they could do was laugh. After I got over the initial shock I wasn’t in trouble, I was laughing too. The four of us. Just sitting there laughing. It’s moments like these I love my family, because whether I use up an entire bottle of dish soap, or stuff an entire bottle’s worth of vitamins in the heater, they never fail to see the good and the humor in situations.