Food for thought: Patience and Kindness
This is a photo of my grandmother’s china. After my grandmother passed away, as the oldest grandchild, my grandfather promised the silverware and china to me when I got married.
Years later and before I ever got married, he remarried. He moved out of the house I spent summers in, the china was boxed up for the move and put on display in his new home with his new wife.
I got married, a couple years after they did. I did think about the china that was promised to me when I had to select a china pattern of my own. But since my grandfather had remarried, I never asked about the china.
He and his wife flew down from Pennsylvania for my wedding. The day after the wedding, my grandfather presented me with a flat rectangular box. As he handed it to me, from the weight of it, I busted out crying on the spot. It was my grandmother’s silverware. He told me then I would get the china one day.
One day came about ten years after he passed away. The china and silver pieces arrived in the three huge boxes marked fragile. Every piece was securely wrapped and not one thing was broken.
I can’t describe the feeling I had as I unwrapped each piece and placed it on my dining room table. I could feel Grammy’s spirit sitting at the table with me. My eyes glistened with tears knowing that she was proud for me to have it.
She had purchased this china in the 1950’s, when she was married and had had three children. The pieces were bought one by one at a local grocery store. The store was running a promotion where you could earn coupons on the dollar from your purchase to go towards a piece of china. She was trying to get the entire set, and my mom said this took a long time.
Before she could purchase the entire set, the offer was discontinued. My mom told me that Grammy was sad. My grandmother mentioned to the store the manager that she was disappointed the offer had been discontinued. He whispered something like, “Mrs. Holtz, I’ll just sell you the rest of the set.”
Here’s the thing... I can serve twelve people coffee and dessert on Grammy's china.
Food for thought: Without patience or kindness, I wouldn’t have had this story to tell.
“Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. ” — George Sand