Day 11: Lobject's kitchen countertop

Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Kitchen Countertop

1.      Eating healthy is important but indulging is, too.

I was raised by the kitchen countertop of my youth.  It taught me apples were good afterschool snacks and, on special days, slid me a bowl of Breyers vanilla ice cream smothered with Hershey’s chocolate syrup and sprinkled with mini marshmallows. This combination still cures the worst days for me.

2.      Having goals is important but failing is ok.

The off-white linoleum politely asked me to memorize my vocabulary words, using each in an original sentence. The countertop wasn’t partial to my favorite subjects, though. Although we stayed up past bedtime to learn fractions and the multiplication tables of 6-9, it was the first test I didn’t pass. Darn 7s got me. I cried, my parents didn’t understand, and the countertop offered up ice cream.

3.      Spending time with family is important. Period.  

On Sundays my father weaved dough, flattening it into the pasta machine. I folded pasta between my fingers and the countertop hugged the noodles. I knew that was the trick. Sunday dinner was always pasta. Always. White pasta bowls with grapes displayed in the glass cabinet had a special home in my childhood kitchen. I can see them on the kitchen countertop with spoons and forks waiting for eggplant sauce and wide noodles. I see them empty, stained red on the kitchen table in front of my grandfather, father, mother, brother and me. I could stay in this memory forever.