I just never saw my mother in any other room but the kitchen. There were always pots going.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
My mother's kitchen was built to be the focal point of our house. I got into the kitchen often as a child.
My grandmother's house was just a place of comfort. I mean, I remember going in there, and the kitchen always had pots cooking with the lids were always bump, bump, bump, bump, bubbling, you know?
In my household, everything happens in the kitchen. My parents have this pretty big home, and it doesn't matter how big it is, we will all squeeze ourselves in the kitchen and just chat while my mom or dad cooks.
I really didn't have an interest in being in the kitchen until after I was married, when I was 18. It didn't take me long to realize that Mama was not going to show up at my house every day and cook.
As a child, I was raised with my grandmother, alongside all my cousins, and the kitchen was always full.
I felt my mother about the place. I don't think she haunts me, but I wouldn't put it past her.
There was a group of six women in my household. My mom, aunts and grandma. I watched them in the kitchen.
My mother would never let me in the kitchen. I always wanted to cook, but I was never allowed to. Her view of the world was, 'Cooking is my job, and studying is your job.' I think, in retrospect, she didn't like the chaos. She was very orderly. It had to be her way.
But certainly in my grandmother's time - and when I was growing up, yeah, Demetrie's bathroom was on the side of the house, it was a separate door. Still, to this day, I've never been in that room.
I had this whole ritual with my mother making the bed with me inside it so I would be invisible.