My awesome friend, Lisa (owner of Fayetteville Pilates and Barre), asked me the other day why I bake and cook so much. Besides the obvious - in a British accent - "Oh, darling, don't you know I am a single, 20-something girl who lives by herself? It makes sense!" I responded that I just have a lot of time. Which- don't get me wrong. I am taking like a ridiculously light load of classes for my last semester.
I don't know my exact reasoning for how much baking/cooking I have done in the last months. But, I have a pretty good guess. I think it is how I have been able to handle the changes in my life. I think it is what I do when I get upset about Sammy. (wow....I haven't said that in a while)
Being in the kitchen...it distracts me. It leads me to prayer. A lot. I find myself browning some meat, or dicing and onion and breaking into song and prayer. Some of that may just be that I do, once again, live alone and can sing and run around naked if I want. Baking makes me feel like I can be domestic. Which-if you know me- isn't something I necessarily dreamed about as a child. Being in my 5x7 kitchen (okay, I'm really bad with measurements but I do know that is a picture frame size. Which, yes, is how small my kitchen is) is an outlet. Being in my kitchen is an outlet for my anger. Well...that only took me half a page to get out the truth. I've been to confession a lot lately, #catholicgirlproblems, because I am just plain ol' mad sometimes. Have you seen "Diary of a Mad Black Woman?" The main character says my feelings perfectly. "I'm not bitter. I'm mad as hell." Wait, rephrase. I was bitter. Then I was mad. Now, I just am disappointed. And hurt. (I get nauseated- literally today I had to sit down- when I see a picture on facebook of my ex and his girlfriend.) Oh, hell. I'm still mad. But, I think I take that anger out on my cutting board. On my cast iron skillet. I brown those onions to the best of my ability. I make sure the noodles are cooked "al dente." I have made more peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in the last month than you would think possible.
After my parents got divorced, I went to counseling. Duh, everyone and their mom goes to counseling- I highly recommend it (as in I know what marriage counselor I will use one day. NO, not you, Dr. Phil.) But, apparently at the young age of 5, I had a lot of anger. At this point, if you are still reading, you're thinking "I didn't need to know all of this about you, homegirl. Like, I would scratch walls and yell kind of anger problems. I wasn't necessarily violent. So, I colored pictures of how I felt. And now my sweet, sweet mother has these chicken scratch drawings framed. So, yes. Having an outlet for my emotions is a good thing.
Let's get some things clear: I do not have anger management problems. Instead, I cook. I didn't say I eat a hell of a lot of the food I make, but I try to not let it go to waste. I bake. I make bran muffins. Whatever I can find....so that is all for now.