Casualty

I still remember - all these 54 years later - going with The Husband to pick out our wedding china before we were married.   Times were different then in our small town.  We had a nice reception held at the church and people gave us practical gifts which we loved as we used them.  We only received a 2 place setting of our china, we later purchased 2 more place settings so we could have a couple people over for dinner and have a nice table.  We've rarely used the china.  

But in recent years I keep hearing the philosophy that you shouldn't always save the nice stuff for the future - enjoy it now because you never know what's coming down the road.  

Out came our few nice dishes.  (Now, we have been given lots of nice dishes over the years, but the wedding set somehow had more meaning to us.  We are always grateful for gifts.)  They are so old they don't have a "dishwasher safe" label on the back, but I figured it's porcelain china, right?  It's been fired and should be safe, right?  The few pieces I put in the dishwasher seemed ok at first, then I began noticing small chips in the edges.  So hand washing was the routine.  But, we have soft water and soap makes them slippery.  

Last night, doing dishes by hand for like the third time (what with all the Thanksgiving cooking even though I really pared back) the little chipped salad plate slipped and broke into two.  I felt so bad.  It was my clumsiness that broke it.

And yet, it's fine.  Truly fine.  I'm glad we're using things that have meaning and if they get broken (and are not replaceable because they're so old and it wasn't a wildly popular design in the first place it's been long, long discontinued) that's part of living.  I like living and finding enjoyment and hopefully small pockets of true joy in every day.  

The dishes may break.  But the relationships will hopefully endure forever.