Mrs. V's 2 Cents

I found myself opening the door to that old home of mine, and everything in the living room was just as I had left it 50 years earlier.

The only thing different was there was a casket placed near the far wall, and sitting in a chair next to it was a young man with his face in his hands weeping silently . Down the hallway leading from the living room door was the kitchen. I saw a bunch of my relatives and friends there, hurrying back and forth with food, pots, and plates. I could smell foods cooking and desserts baking.

I was overjoyed to see my friends but sensed this was a serious moment, so I did not smile and greet them with hugs as they hustled and bustled about quietly preparing food for comfort and love.

Instead, I decided I would make the weeping young man a dish that I always prepared for my kids when they were sick or sad. My husband and I called this dish “soup rice.” So, I went to the kitchen cupboard near the big oldfashioned stove where I used to keep my pots. Lo and behold there was one little pot and cover right there on the shelf! I then went to the spot where I typically stored my bag of rice, a metal container on the other side of the stove, but the rice was not there!

I would have to search for it. No problem! I knew this kitchen and the little pantry connected to it like the back of my hand. I looked into a cupboard, and a drawer, and another shelf, no luck.Finally, I found a small bag of rice on the very top shelf in the back. I poured the rice into the little pot and made a beeline to the faucet to wash it. The sink was located right next to the kitchen back door, but there was no longer a sink there! Where could the sink be? I looked and looked and then threw open the back door in dismay—there it was! There was a new addition built on the back porch and the sink was located there.

I washed the rice and put the pot on to boil. The soup requires ginger, garlic, and chicken bones, so I began yet another search for these ingredients. First, I looked in the fridge to see if I might locate my chicken. No luck! I searched for a freezer in hopes of finding frozen chicken (I had to find the freezer first, of course). I finally found it in the basement with chicken inside! I hurried up the stairs to the kitchen stove to add my find to my little pot sitting on the back burner, but the little pot of rice was not there!

I was beginning to get a little impatient and irritated. “Who moved my rice?” I thought to myself. I looked in the sink, and then on the table crowded with salads, breads, baked potatoes, clam chowder, and pies. No little pot with rice in it. I went back to the stove and noticed the handle of my little pot on a shelf above the stove. I put the chicken in the pot with rice and squeezed it back on the stove in between simmering stew and fish head soup.

Now I started my search for the ginger and garlic. Thankfully, I noticed a bin of onions earlier. I went back to the bin and found garlic and ginger among the onions! I had been feeling confident about knowing where I could find the essential ingredients for my healing soup, but everything was not where I expected it to be. The experience of expecting to find the essentials I needed for my healing soup threw me off.

I decided to find a place to sit on the back porch to calm myself down and work at regaining a sense of balance. I sat down on the door step to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. Then, from around the corner came the young man whom I had seen weeping. He looked at me and walked toward me. He then stood right in front of me asked, “Would you tell me what you think?”

This question made me suddenly very wide awake.

I think this dream may have something to do with the experience of uncertainty and sudden change as we all work to survive this pandemic. God - guide us all.