This morning, I retrieved eight delicate sets of teacups and saucers from their haven on the top shelf, and set them on my counter. That it had been a while was evident by the lone spider’s wisp stretching across one handle.
These lovely teacups and saucers were the fruit of a lifetime of collecting by Jack’s favorite Aunt Laura. We had honored the trust of owning them by keeping them safe, seldom putting them to their intended use.
But today, I washed each piece with care, loaded everything in my car, and transported them to spend the day in summer camp with good books and young cooks.
“Books and Cooks” is a camp my alma mater, Phil-Mont Christian Academy, permits me to run. All summer, I spend the day with like-minded young lovers of reading and cooking. Our format is simple. We read a new book each day and create a recipe based on it, journaling and illustrating the whole process. Today’s story, Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea, features an elderly gentleman and his adopted cat who savor hot tea, eat English muffins, and generally enjoy the simple things of life. So, naturally, we too had to have tea in real china, with English muffins, butter, jelly, and cream cheese, just as Mr. Putter and Tabby enjoyed.
It upped the ante to use the real deal. Those cups and saucers brought an elegance and quality nothing else could have replicated. It seemed to me a solemn respect and pleasure hung in the air as we poured and stirred and sipped. Real china carries clout that Chinet does not.
But of course there was some risk. That china was fragile, as life often can be, and so it carried the possibility of damage. That did in fact happen as I broke one inadvertently while washing them this morning.
But!
I have no regrets! We can either store good things indefinitely, as I had been doing with these lovely cups and saucers…or we can take them off the shelves, rinse them off, and USE THEM.
And I say, let’s use the good china! Break out the good silverware! What are we waiting for? A special occasion? We’re alive today. Isn’t that special occasion enough?
