Anyone who knows me well knows that I cook, therefore I am. So it was no surprise the other night that my dream involved my kitchen. Though retired, I juggle many activities. With lots of help from some friends, my sister and I take care of my mom, I work very part-time at Pitt Medical School as a Standardized Patient, I serve on our Borough Council and chair the Planning Commission and in between try to have a life.
This coming June, our friends from England are crossing the pond to spend a few days here in Pittsburgh and then the six of us will head down the Great Allegheny Passage to the C & O Towpath and on to D.C. on our bikes. We can't wait to see them, and had a flurry of preparations back in November setting up accommodations for the trip. Yes, we had to do it that early. Finding rooms for six in the peak of bike touring season on one of the most popular trails in the country meant early planning.
After the itinerary was set, the next task was to stock up on wine. Since we normally drink French, Italian and South African wine when we are with them in England, I had decided that we would go with American wines while we are here. I have been collecting since January and have a little over a case now, to be supplemented with some "fizzes," as they say.
Things have been rather hectic here of late. My new tenant is out of town on a school research trip. If she were still living in her previous place of residence, her housemates could have taken care of her dog, Mac. She is here alone, however, so I agreed to walk him several times a day, since I have a vested interest in preventing him from using the interior of my house as a potty. He is a good dog, well-trained and pleasant, but it adds a level of difficulty to days that are already packed. My mom has been extra tired of late, and we have a round of doctor appointments all squished into March since January and February's weather caused cancellations when the weather was just too bad for her to go out.
I guess things had just piled up, and as they do, came out in a dream. In the dream, my friends were already here. I was trying to prepare dinner, but for some reason the house was full of people, all demanding my attention. My kitchen, especially, was attractive to them. My brother-in-law kept trying to get me to taste wine he had brought, my mother stopped by with giant chicken breasts that I decided needed to be incorporated into the dinner. At some point, I realized that all wine I had stockpiled was already gone and it was only their first day here. My neighbor came through to wash her hands at my sink and her grandson wanted me to help him practice for a job interview. You get the picture.
Eventually, I just stood in the middle of the kitchen and yelled, "Everybody has to go into another room!" I woke up laughing about the whole thing, because everything about it was so, well, me. I love nothing more than to cook for friends. People do tend to congregate in the kitchen and I love to talk with them while I work. But once in a great while, it is too much. And now, I know that sometimes I need to protect myself from the kitchen becoming overcrowded, both realistically and metaphorically. We all need to clear our minds once in a while, step back and remember that we can only do so much. And then ask people to clear the kitchen.
