A while ago I received an odd phone call from my grandfather. He wasn’t making much sense and he hung up on me. He was calling from a blocked number so I couldn’t call him back. I did what any sensible person does and freaked out. I called my parents’ house and had to explain it twice. My mom sensed the panic in my voice and got my dad to call to check to see if my grandfather was ok.
I sat there for about 30 minutes feeling anxious wondering why my grandfather was calling me. My dad called me back to tell me that my grandfather was just fine. He was calling from his cellphone and didn’t have his hearing aid in so he couldn’t hear me. He wanted to ask me if I wanted my grandmother’s china. I was relieved and surprised. The only thing of my grandmother’s that I asked for and received was a token ceramic figurine that I have fond memories of, it is the shape of a dog and my grandmother would use it to rest her glasses on. It now sits at my desk at work and I use it everyday. I’ve been very careful to not ask for anything else.
It surprised me that I was being offered my grandmother’s china. I am the only granddaughter and my children are the only great grandchildren so I guess it makes sense that I would be asked first. It just never occured to me to ask for it. As a matter of fact I could not even remember what the set looked like. Try as I might I could not summon an image of it. The only set I could remember was an anniversary set my grandmother received for their 50 wedding anniversary and there is no way I’d be offered that.
Last week my dad dropped off the china set and I took a peek. It is a fairly basic pattern, cream and blue with gold trim. I’d be proud to have it on my table. The only thing that pains me is that it will have to be hand-washed due to the gold trim. We don’t have much in the way of stuff that must be hand-washed. The same goes for clothes that must be dry cleaned or ironed for that matter.
I now own an 8 piece set of china that will be relegated to special occasions. We don’t live like that. I need to have stuff that we can use everyday. If this needs to be packed away then I will never use it and it will sit unused gathering dusk in our crawl space. My mom wants me to keep it and pass it on to the Smoochie; but that will be decades from now!
What do you do with sentimental items that you don’t feel comfortable using. We are trying so hard to pare down what we have to items that we love and use everyday so keeping this china for Christmas doesn’t jive with how we want to live. Tell me, what you have done with stuff you have inherited?
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