Every Day is a "Special Occasion"

In the early 70’s my Mom’s sister was in a traffic accident that claimed the life of her husband. This happened before I was born (in fact before my folks had even met), but my Mom has told me one particular story about this time that I’ll always remember.

As my Aunt was enduring her own painful recovery from injuries sustained in the same accident that took her husband’s life; she talked of some of her regrets. One of them that always stood out to my Mother was that the newly weds had never once used their wedding china. It had been carefully packed away. They had planned to wait for just the right special occasion to unveil those lovely dishes. I’m sure they were excited, as those in love tend to be, about the special occasion that would someday be worthy.

But tragedy struck before that special occasion came.

My Aunt lamented after the death of her husband that every day with him had been an occasion worthy of fancy dishes and celebration. She wished that she’d realized no honored guest existed who could have been more deserving than her spouse.

This really made an impact on my Mom. When my parents got married, she vowed that they would use their wedding china daily… and they did.
By the time their first anniversary rolled around, a few of the pieces had broken, but they had memories of meatloaf and biscuits and gravy and silly conversations over every day meals.

By the time I was entering grade school, most of the dinner plates and cups were gone. But we all could recall the glistening turkey served on that big platter...and I still had my Malt o Meal in a china bowl each morning for breakfast.

By the time I was a teenager, the original collection was down to one cup, a creamer and a sugar bowl with no lid. Those three lone pieces were finally retired, but lovingly displayed for all to see.
When it came time for Dan and I to pick out our own wedding china a few years ago, I asked my Mom if she regretted it… Did she ever wish she’s saved those dishes for formal meals with company?

She just laughed, and said “Absolutely Not”. Her family had enjoyed them, literally to pieces. That china was long gone, but the memories of meals served on, and stories told over them would never fade. She had witnessed her sister’s grief, and learned a valuable lesson. Every day with those you love is a special occasion. Every moment that we are blessed to have our family and friends surround us is a day worthy of the grandest of celebrations.

My own wedding anniversary is swiftly approaching (I’ll tell you more about that next week); and thinking about it brought this story to mind. Our china does spend more time in our display cabinet than on our table, but sometimes we do get it out and use it “just because”.

I think this is going to be one of those days. I’m going to pull out some of our wedding dishes and use them tonight….just because it’s Tuesday….just because I love my husband more than ever…just because my family deserves to know how very special they are – any (and every) day of the week.

Note: The china photos above are from Bing! Images…but they are the right patterns for this story… at least mostly. I don’t know what pattern my Aunt & Uncle had. However, my folks had the Johnson Brothers Friendly Village pattern. Dan suggested we choose the Johnson Brothers English Castles set since I’d enjoyed my parents’ china so much (and because he knows how much I love pink). Ours is similar to theirs without being too “matchy”.

Now, I just have to figure out what we’re going to have for dinner tonight, and I’m set!