JOY AND THE GOOD STUFF
The other day, my 83 year old mom went on a cleaning rampage. It sort of caught me by surprise because in all my (to be unnamed) years on earth, I’ve never known my mom and dad to get rid of anything. Ever. At all.
After dad moved on to heaven a couple of years ago, I understood her getting rid of some of his things. This was different. This was MAJOR deep cleaning. She had things on the shelves and in closets and in the storage shed and just everywhere. Things she was saving.
That struck such a cord in me. Things she was saving. Saving for what? Who knows?
We have the many, many plastic containers. Not the name-brand good stuff. More like plastic butter tubs and the like. I know we can save them to keep or share leftover food so we don’t lose our good stuff. Got it. She used to like to send leftovers home with me, although that role is more reversed now. But 10-15 of them? We also have paper towels that have been left around to dry and reuse – I’m talking a pile of dried paper towels at least 5” high – even though she has several new rolls in her pantry. We even have quite a few Styrofoam cups that have been washed and stacked together on one side of the countertop. I’m not sure why. When dad was alive, he reused Styrofoam cups that he really liked for traveling back and forth to work because they fit in the cup holder in the truck better. Mom doesn’t use them at all but the habit is still there to wash and save every Styrofoam cup – AND as long as there are no sticky spots on then, she will wipe out paper plates and reuse them. After all, a sandwich just left a few bread crumbs, so it is a perfectly good paper plate.
How about the many, many, many, many packages of ketchup, salt, pepper, honey, and even plastic ware wrapped inside napkins encased in plastic (like the kind you get with a to-go meal in a fast food restaurant). OK, we might have over a thousand people to a family reunion picnic – except most of the families on both sides are moved on to heaven. So – what are we saving all this for? Just in case.
Just in case what? Well, you just never know. You just never know WHEN you might need that many packages of plastic ware, so you won’t be caught of guard! That way we don’t have to wash silverware from those thousands of people at the family reunion picnic! Besides, didn’t you know? It is pretty much a sin to throw away good plastic ware and waste paper plates. We save the ketchup and salt and honey to toss in the lunch box because you just never know when you might need them on that peanut butter sandwich. You just never know.
So anyway, back to mom’s cleaning rampage. She got rid of almost everything she didn’t want to mess with anymore. There were fragile crystal pieces they bought while living in Europe when I was younger. There were blankets, pillows, and sheets enough to stock a motel. Books, video tapes, cassettes – the list was endless. But what struck me was so much of the “good stuff” that she gave me.
The good stuff – you know. That stuff you save for company – good crystal, china, silver, linen napkins and tablecloths, carafes, wine decanters (who knew?), individual setting salt and pepper shakers, and on and on. It hit me that she and dad had saved so much stuff to use for special occasions. And they did use them for parties and get-togethers. But as those times grew less and less – especially after they moved to the boonies of Arkansas – the good stuff only came out at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
So I realized this great Joy-thought recently! USE THE GOOD STUFF NOW. Don’t wait for a special occasion – a special occasion is every morning that you get up and draw breath. Why would I save my good plates for when company comes over? NO ONE IS MORE SPECIAL THAN MY HUSBAND. So I am determined that we will use the good plates on the good tablecloths now. No more paper plates in front of the television set.
I told mom this morning that from now on, when she dropped by for coffee in the mornings, I would serve her English muffin on the good china and we will drink our tea or coffee from the good coffee cups. She laughed but I think she really liked the idea. While I won’t use the linen napkins, I will use my big, soft premium paper dinner napkins from now on, instead of the cheaper ones. I’m not even going to buy cheap napkins any more – or cheap toilet paper – or cheap paper towels.
LIFE IS TOO SHORT NOT TO USE THE GOOD STUFF NOW!
