It was cold to the touch, cold as steel. It lay there without a thing in it. I looked at it in shock wondering where the rest of it was, the rest of that cold, heartless stainless steel sink. It seemed there was some unfinished business with this apparatus; it was hardly useful without a drain in it.
After fumbling around in the dark of night looking for an answer, it occurred to me that perhaps the sink was playing a hearty joke on me. I opened the cupboard and there was the real sink, drains and all.
This was a dream I had, one that I woke up with. And although it appeared ridiculous to contemplate such a bizarre dream, it seemed to stick with me. It sort of gave me a sick, sinking feeling, excuse the pun. The image of that empty, cold, hard piece of steel, with no useful purpose, seemed for some reason or another to play havoc with my heart.
Was the sink going to overflow? Without a doubt it would since it didn’t have a drain! Does everything you do in life end up going down a drain? What could this mean? This double image, two sinks in one kitchen, one right over the other, one real, one obviously a fake. Is this what life is like? Is it all about finding out what is real?
Why am I a woman dreaming about sinks? Is this a feminist issue? Should I tell you what I do in a week apart from working? Should I go into the hours I spend at the kitchen sink, using my most precious time cleaning up after countless meals and snacks, and still whenever I go into the kitchen it is only on the rare occasion that I find the counters clean. Can it be that difficult for the persons I live with to get a cloth and clean up after themselves? I guess so. So kitchen sinks and I have a lot in common, I suppose: we are cold and hard and constantly filled with something. The sink finds itself filled mostly with water while I find myself filled with a lot of stuff that neither you nor I would really consider interesting. But if I had to say what filled me up I would say most days I am filled with joy, but I am afraid that on other days I am filled with things I would love to see flow down a drain to nowhere.
Everything but the kitchen sink: what exactly does that mean? That I as a woman carry around with me so much junk that I can’t get the kitchen sink into the same bag as my other stuff? And what is it that I carry around on a daily basis? That would take too long and would sound more like a report than a piece of literature. Oh yes, this is literature, folks. I am not sure what your idea of literature is but I would ask you to consider the kitchen sink a hot topic.
I certainly did this morning when I woke up. It – the dream – seemed to stay with me and is with me now as I write this. It has meaning, that piece of steel, it has a sense of power that perhaps I need to take a closer look at.
I know you might find this all a bit crazy but I get it. That I dream about my kitchen sink seems to say a lot about a lot of different things. My cold, hard stainless steel sink begs me to ask the question “ Do you have the answer?”
“ The answer to what?”
“ Well, that is why you had the dream.”
“ Oh.”
“ When you figure it out let me know.”
“ Certainly.”
No, I don’t speak to my sink but if I could, what do you suppose we would talk about? I think both of us would complain about how misused and abused we are in the kitchen. About how nobody appreciates our efforts to keep the kitchen clean. Perhaps that would be our biggest topic of conversation.
I feel better now having written about my kitchen sink and I hope you have enjoyed sharing in a little piece of kitchen literature. You too may dream about your kitchen or a piece of machinery in your kitchen and find yourself worrying about why, why you would dream about said equipment. Well, because that is what makes our lives as women worthwhile, dreaming a little dream of our fridge, our stove, our ceramic tile? For what it’s worth, most of us spend far too much time in the kitchen, so why wouldn’t we all be dreaming about the kitchen all the time?
Thanks for listening to my “sink” dream. I think while writing this I may have cleared up a few of my issues with work, cleaning, kitchens and things going down the drain, like my life, spending it cleaning in the kitchen.
I will now look at my cold, heartless stainless steel sink in a whole new light! No longer will I look at it as the enemy but more as a confrere in the war against cleaning and wasting precious moments wiping down counters! It appears that I have found a new respect for my sink, and, it seems, for myself!
Photo Credit
Stainless Steel Sink – Wikimedia Public Domain
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