The kitchen cabinet that holds my pots and pans is a mess. An absolute horror of disarray and disorganization this cabinet is.
It’s not that my posts and pans don’t fit in there, they do! They all nest neatly one inside the next, all matching stainless or anodized aluminum, very pretty. Also have a stack of super cheap IKEA fry pans for the hardcore abuse type cooking. It was all nice and neat when I moved in back in 2005. It remained neat for a good while, but lately…
Lately the cabinet has taken on its own sort of persona.
No, let me rephrase that for accuracy…
Lately, the cabinet has taken on a reflection of MY OWN persona. This cabinet is a metaphor for all the times I did not learn my lesson! Oh yes. Now the pots and pans are crammed in there willy nilly. All smushed and at unreal angles, bigger pots on top of smaller, fry pans scattered here and there, nothing really fits. In fact, it takes me longer to cram things in there so that the door will shut than it would if I just reorganized it and did it right!
I know this! This is a thing I know!
In fact! IN FACT! This was one of the more popular sentiments* shared with me by adults when I was younger, “you know, it would be faster and easier to just fix the problem than build a hugely insane work around.” I’m clever, I know that! I knew it then and I know it now! It’s not that I didn’t learn. I remember all those ‘lessons’ meant to teach me ‘responsibility’. It’s not that I didn’t learn, it’s just that I never really cared.
Sorry
it’s true
yeah, it would take me less time in the long run if I just reorganized the cabinet. You know what would save even more time? Eating the vegetables straight out of the bag in the freezer, then I would not even have to deal with washing the pans!**
I’m 35. I remember when my parents were 35. They did adult things like be responsible and have nice tidy kitchen cabinets. on the other hand, I seem to remember they never actually spent much time keeping said cabinets tidy and organized. If I recall correctly, I was the one tasked with keeping things neat and tidy and organized. It was part of a regiment of lessons concerning responsibility. If I spent my childhood learning how to keep kitchen cabinets organized and the benefits of wiping up juice immediately after spilling it on the floor, then as an adult I would be able to do these things effortlessly. I bet they were pretty pleased with this plan.
It seems, however, that I learned something entirely different. The thing that I learned was that as an adult you can get your kids to do the things you are not interested in doing AND you can pretend like it’s all about life lessons!
I guess the real onion in the ointment is that I never had kids…and the dogs are too damned lazy and thumbless to have any ‘real’ responsibility. Crap.
* other popular sentiments were “don’t you feel bad getting your friends in trouble” and the favorite, “but you have so much potential! you’re smarter than a D average”
** I would also stop wearing pants completely in order to save on laundry times, but the afternoon manager at the grocery store gets all uptight about partial nudity in the cereal aisle.