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I broke one of my crystal wine glasses today. It was a gift from my sister and very expensive. I said a few curse words at my clumsiness, and for one slight second, wished I hadn't used them.
Picking up the shards of glass, I remembered my mother's beautiful set of blue and white china.
We didn't have a lot of nice things growing up and my parents took great care in the valuable things they owned. My mother waited patiently most of her married life to buy a set of china. When she finally did, it sat in the top cupboard, never used. I remember standing there just gazing at it, always asking my mother, "When do we get to use it?" Her answer was always the same... "for a special occasion."
Thanksgiving came and went. Christmas came and went. Easter came and went. There never seemed an occasion worthy enough of its use.
Over time, the importance of the china grew in my mind because I couldn't imagine what event would possibly prompt its use.
Eventually I stopped asking the "when" question. To me, the china became symbolic of a life event that, apparently, would never occur in my family.
Several years after my mom got her china, she became ill with cancer, never to recover. On the day of her funeral, I stood in the kitchen, staring for a long time at those blue and white plates that still hadn't been used. I remember feeling saddest that the "special occasion" my mother had waited on in her life had, apparently, in her mind, never arrived.
That day, I vowed I'd never wait for "a special occasion" to use anything I owned, no matter how valuable or irreplaceable. At that moment, when we were about to bury my mother, I cried hardest when I recalled all the moments of our daily life we'd let go by without realizing THAT was the special occasion.
So when I broke my treasured wine glass, I was thankful for the memories those glasses had helped create. The toasts given, the loved shared, the laughter that rang through my house like a bell every time they were used. And I feel lucky that, thanks to some blue and white plates, I discovered when I was young what often takes a lifetime to realize.
Every day we live, we have the opportunity to create the "special occasions" > of our life.
I hope you realize what my mother never did. Special occasions don't arrive with the calendar. They arrive with the people around you.
Unknown Author
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