Thinking Things Over

Back in the day--the day before the proliferation of paper and plastic products, to be exact--a woman's joy was to possess a nice set of china. Thus, through various twists and turns, Fio inherited two sets of really good china of the same pattern (Haviland, to be exact), one from her great-grandmother, the other from Husband's grandmother, and she uses them at Christmas every year. But now she's considering selling both of them off. The times, they are a-changin', and Fiorella doubts that the next generation will value this heritage. besides, there's only so much one can pass on without weighing people down.
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Fiorella has been blessed with good friends. The guys at Mazda take good care of her baby car, Click  Computer Repair provides not only good service, but good advice, and the lady bankers at Chase are helping her through a financial situation she wants to settle. Thank you, one and all.
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Fio has been hearing a lot about meditation lately so she researched it on line--and decided it wasn't for her. Fiorella doesn't want to sit still, doesn't want to clear her mind of everything she has commited to, and doesn't want to hypnotize herself into nothingness. Ever since she was a child, she's had an acute perception of time passing, and she doesn't want to lose that feeling because it is what drives her to do what she must do before she leaves this earth.

Antiques

Sorry, my darling daughter, but Fiorella is not about to wrap the Limoges up in tissue paper and store it away in the attic rather than set the table with it for holidays. Sure, some of the gilt wears away with each use.  Sure, some of the pieces will get chipped or broken--some of them already have--but so what?  It's only china.

Fio has a double set of Haviland, inherited from her mother and Husband's grandmother. It's a pretty, springtime pattern of pink roses, more intense in Husband's grandmother's pieces than in the earlier version from Fio's family. Doesn't quite work for Christmas, but ideal for Easter, when Daughter and her husband joined us for a holiday dinner.

While appreciating Daughter's appreciation of antiques, Fiorella has less reverent attitude: if the china/chest of drawers/chair/whatever serves no purpose, it's useless. You will never see Fiorella on Antiques Road Show checking out the value of the breakfront desk that Husband inherited because Fio uses one drawer for correspondence, one for important papers, one for bank records, and one for current bills.  However, on  the glassed-in shelves on top, she'll admit she's arranged photos and well . . .

antique keepsakes.