every time a dish breaks an angel gets its wings
We've been having people in to dinner.
This entails me spending the day cleaning and K doing the shopping and cooking.
If we plan it right we are busy until a couple of hours before the guests arrive -
and then we take some time to sit and read or watch a movie.
Timed well, it can be a lovely evening -
but if anything throws a wrench in it...well, it can be a difficult balance.
A couple of weeks ago we had K's sister and her family for a turkey dinner.
About two hours before her arrival K tripped with our bread bowl full of stuffing in his arms.
It was a terrible mess.
While I cobbled together some doctored up stuffing, K sat at the laptop and replaced our discontinued Roseville bowl before I had time to miss it. And the eBay seller was kind enough to mention that it was her grandmother's and that she was pleased that it was going to someone who would appreciate and use it. (8 quarts!)
This past weekend we had some friends in.
Their son L is a special friend of Youngest's and their daughter S really should be my future daughter-in-law...but we'll let Middle decide for himself.
I scoured the kitchen and even washed the floor.
(Our bread making had left a fine dust of flour everywhere.)
Just before our guests arrived, K was putting some wine in to chill - and dropped a bottle of white just in front of the fridge...
I kept vacuuming while he mopped up.
We had a great dinner. (Filet mignon in green peppercorn cognac sauce, salted green beans and skillet potatoes with rosemary, the bread.)
We laughed a lot -
(OKAY. I'LL ADMIT IT PUBLICLY: sometimes I don't know the difference between Samuel L. Jackson and Laurence Fishburne.)
We had a very nice evening.
And while I was cleaning up and putting things away, I let slip the top of a covered casserole dish that was my grandmother's.
My heart shattered too.
But, as I was reminding myself that it was just a thing, I realized -
every single day we make our own memories.
This entails me spending the day cleaning and K doing the shopping and cooking.
If we plan it right we are busy until a couple of hours before the guests arrive -
and then we take some time to sit and read or watch a movie.
Timed well, it can be a lovely evening -
but if anything throws a wrench in it...well, it can be a difficult balance.
A couple of weeks ago we had K's sister and her family for a turkey dinner.
About two hours before her arrival K tripped with our bread bowl full of stuffing in his arms.
It was a terrible mess.
While I cobbled together some doctored up stuffing, K sat at the laptop and replaced our discontinued Roseville bowl before I had time to miss it. And the eBay seller was kind enough to mention that it was her grandmother's and that she was pleased that it was going to someone who would appreciate and use it. (8 quarts!)
This past weekend we had some friends in.
Their son L is a special friend of Youngest's and their daughter S really should be my future daughter-in-law...but we'll let Middle decide for himself.
I scoured the kitchen and even washed the floor.
(Our bread making had left a fine dust of flour everywhere.)
Just before our guests arrived, K was putting some wine in to chill - and dropped a bottle of white just in front of the fridge...
I kept vacuuming while he mopped up.
We had a great dinner. (Filet mignon in green peppercorn cognac sauce, salted green beans and skillet potatoes with rosemary, the bread.)
We laughed a lot -
(OKAY. I'LL ADMIT IT PUBLICLY: sometimes I don't know the difference between Samuel L. Jackson and Laurence Fishburne.)
We had a very nice evening.
And while I was cleaning up and putting things away, I let slip the top of a covered casserole dish that was my grandmother's.
My heart shattered too.
But, as I was reminding myself that it was just a thing, I realized -
every single day we make our own memories.
Comments
is this really goodbye?
-J.
It makes me happy to know people out there use their good stuff. So many times our special things sit on a shelf.
I think making an everyday day more festive with our treasures is more meaningful than most real holidays.
I have many kitchen things that hold dear memories for me. I use them. As often as I can.
When used the first time around they created memories for me. I use them now to create memories for others. If they break I will replace them with something that will create new memories for my loved ones.
Take heart. I do feel your pain.
.. I keep thinking I'll glue it.
maybe?
But they will stay right there, in one particular drawer of our minds and often come out to comfort us.
Yes, I am sorry about all the cleaning and running and huffing and puffing but I am also sure you'll remember those day for that exact reason...
When my husband and I bought our first home together, mom waited a year and then let me know that I could take the washbasin and pitcher home with me, as my grandma and I were close, and I loved it so much. She packed it carefully in a box with bubble wrap for the drive home, and I sat with it on my lap for the 90 miles over the mountain,thinking about the spot I would keep it, the stories I would tell about it, and the children I would one day pass it on to.
The box was left open and on a dining room chair while I took off my coat, and the dogs got crazy, and ran through the room, and knocked the box off, and it fell out on the hardwood floor, and shattered. Shattered into a million pieces.
I cried and I cried and I cried.
They are just things, but humans pack those things around for a reason, methinks. I'm so sorry about your broken things.
Your grandmother has wings already!?