My parents made sure to teach all of us kids the value of a nice table, and thoughtful table manners. Not often, but a few times we even dined at home with a table that included finger bowls. They wanted us to know what to do if we were ever at a restaurant and we were offered finger bowls at our place setting.
My dad taught me how to properly set a table, and my mom taught me which odd dish in the China set was for what.
When I became an adult, I found myself loving a more elegant Victorian decor. My girl friends at the time, Michelle, Marty, Sandra, and I would pour through the latest Victoria magazines. For years, I collected them, even.
Every bit of me knows that this part within me came from my mother. She taught us to appreciate and care for pretty things. She refused to remove breakable valuables from tables that were within our tiny reach when we were at the ages of most destruction. Her thinking being that if we can't be taught how to not touch things at home, how would we learn to not touch things at stores, or at the homes of other people. It was good thinking, and we learned a lot from it.
I wasn't as disciplined, though, once I became a mom. My China tea cups and saucers that were home on my coffee table, complete with a set of white lace gloves for graceful adornment were packed away faster than you can say Earl Grey, once Tessa started cruising. And through the majority of the years that my kids were little, I kept my breakable pretties displayed in China hutches, up and out of reach. I used them, though. My mom's teaching wasn't lost in me completely.
The years we were first back in California were difficult, since most of my things were still back in Nebraska in storage. Much has since been brought back to me, and thankfully, my China, crystal, and silver has made it to my new home in Glendora. I have found myself reverting back to a more formal and elegant self, enjoying serving my guests with pretty things. I've even caught myself serving the kids with crystal and China on regular dinner nights.
Yesterday, my collection grew tremendously, and I'm very emotional about it. My parents are moving in a few weeks to another house a few blocks away. They will be living with my sister and brother-in-law, and their little boy. The need for double everything just isn't there, so they are thinning through their stuff, combining households, and purging everything that they don't need.
My mom told me she had some China and crystal pieces she didn't want to take, and asked me when I could come by to sort through it and take whatever I wanted. Juggling my schedule took some doing, but I had a tiny window yesterday, and I went for it. My dad opened the garage, and on a folding table sat my mom's delicate pink rosette China. My eyes filled. A hundred thoughts ran through my mind. How could this be?
My mom told me, when I called her, that she was ready to pass it on. She inherited her mom's China a few years ago when my grandma died. She said that that set held more sentimental value to her, and that she was really ready to let this set go. That she was happy for me to have it. That when I got to be her age, I'd understand. Admittedly, at the age I am right now, I don't understand. But, I will accept that there are things that are beyond my ability to comprehend, and I will gladly be the recipient of something as dear as this China. Wanna see it?
You want to know what's even more cool? To my amazement, my mother put out the purple wine carafe from my childhood. No, I didn't mention it earlier, but it was on the dinner table on the nights when we used finger bowls. It was our special occasion carafe, and as soon as I saw it on the Give Away table, I snatched it. No way was this going in a yard sale...no way. Wanna see this one?
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