Entering the second day of packing, the packers slowly make their way through our kitchen and dishes. I found myself telling the packer stories of different dishes as he wrapped them in paper. Ones that I picked up at antique stores and others that I picked up traveling and still others were given as gifts. Some, I’ve had for a long time—others are fairly new.
There was a time, about 15-17 years ago that most of what we owned was either given as wedding gifts-which were a blessing to us to start our life together or hand-me-downs and left overs from our single days. Now, while we still have many of the wedding gifts, much of what we own has been picked along the way as our family grown and we have traveled around the country and world. I find that every dish has a story.
Some are as simple as a memory of a location I visited, some help me recall significant events in my life, and others are simply because we liked what we saw and added them to our collection. I always have a hard time getting rid of these dishes-particularly coffee mugs-because they hold so many memories. I had to laugh when the Korean packer packed up my kitchen in Korea. As he walked in the room he said in the only English I heard him say: “that’s a lot of cups”. But if they each represent a memory-you can never have enough.