My beloved Mom -in law gave us her china. It is a simple, but elegant set with a white background, and a simple blue flower. I LOVE that china because it belonged to one of
my Mom's. I have two, the dear one who gave birth and raised me, and the beloved
one that gave birth to and raised my sweetheart, and then loved me like her own daughter after I married.
For some reason I thought that she had gotten this china from a store giveaway. The kind
they used to have where you received a plate for spending so much on groceries, or two
plates, or a gravy bowl....etc. They don't give away china so much for buying groceries...
NOPE, now we get a discount on gasoline, which currently costs about as much as china!
Imagine my surprise when I got out a magnifying glass to look at the label. (The label was
much too small for my eyes, or glasses covered eyes to see, part of the reason I didn't know the label.)
I discovered that it said Johann Haviland.
Haviland is a famous brand of rather expensive china. So....imagine my feelings when I discovered that this china that I had loved because it belonged to my dear Mom, actually
had financial worth? I pondered about that concept for much of my day.
What gives things value in our lives? Is it about the label? Does the fact that these china
dishes have actual financial worth make them matter more to me? Or do I love them just the same because Mom used them to serve us some of the visible expressions of her love, in other words, her incredible cooking?
Our youngest daughter was in a bathroom stall in middle school. Two of her classmates came in. One of them said to the other, "I'm so embarrassed. My labels don't match today. I looked all over and couldn't find underwear that were the same label as my clothes!" Our gir came out, washed her hands and left. Later she said to me, "Mom, I don't understand why it mattered so much to those girls who had designed or created their clothes. They were still JUST CLOTHES!" Imagine my delight to hear my teenage daughter say that?
So....my little challenge for anybody who happens to read this blog...walk through your house and list the five things that matter the most to you. No fair listing your family (Of course, THEY ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT). This is about understanding the THINGS that matter to you, and WHY?
It's important to me that our daughters use the glasses that were their great-grandmother's, the meat tray that my grandma used to serve Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinners on, and the furniture that my beloved Mom-in law gave us when we were starving students, the journals I've kept since I was a little girl, and the pictures of our memories as a family....the things that are reminders of the sacred connections of life.
What are your five favorites? Please share....I would really like to know....and please the reasons why as well.
What a charming question! Let's see...
ReplyDelete1. My tea cup collection. The mother of a friend of mine had a large cabinet of mis-matched tea cups, and she would let her kids pick one each day to have a tea party. I want to do that (with herbal tea, of course), so I started collecting them.
2. My books. I have so many!
3. My huge bin of old writing. I can't believe I wrote so much, and I'm glad I did.
4. My photos. I love looking through our memories.
5. My bed. My dad made it for me for our wedding. His parents bought us the matresses, and we still have the same comfortor from when we first got married. It feels like a center piece of our marriage.
My little room here only has some of my favorite things, but...
ReplyDelete1. My trio of things that remind me of my widdle sis - my signed art print of Christ that she got me for graduation, my "I Like You" book from Christmas, and my Willow Tree sister statues
2. In a similar vein, my Willow Tree figure of a girl reading that my dear parents gave me :)
3. My St John's painting that my friend Dan gave me (you haven't seen it yet, but you're going to love it!)
4. My scriptures. I've had them for so long and they feel lovingly used.
5. Let's face it...my iPhone. I love that thing. It provides me music, lets me call my family in the US, tells me when I have an email, and I can check facebook and the news on it.