It's good to be back home! I arrived on Tuesday night and have been catching up ever since. I hope you've all had an amazing week. Every time I come home from being out of town, I see our home in a whole new light. After spending time in a hotel or a guest bedroom, everything seems larger and more comfortable than I remember it the last time. While I love traveling, I'm always thrilled to sleep in my own bed again and get re-acquainted with the familiarities of home. I'm also reminded of how much we have. When I was in NYC with Paul last week, I saw firsthand how he kept things in his room to a minimum because there isn't a whole lot of space, you have no choice but to just keep the bare essentials.
On Wednesday morning I reached for a cereal bowl and was greeted with a reminder in the from of these beautiful white Pottery Barn plates.
They were a gift we purchased for ourselves after we got married, our first set of 'nice' (not to mention pricey) dishes that we selected together. My old work friends pooled together and provided me with a bridal shower/going away gift card and when I perused the store I knew exactly what I wanted-a set of 8 white dinner plates and the coordinating clam shell salad plates which I just adored. Paul and I dreamed about how they would be perfect for both entertaining and just for us in a beach home we plan to own 'someday'.
I am embarrassed to say this but in the past 4.5 years we have not used them one time! Why? Because they're 'too nice' for our day-to-day meals, I'm afraid we'll break one, leaving an odd number of 7. Pretty silly huh? I know I'm not alone. How many times do we receive gifts or buy ourselves beautiful candles, soaps, clothing, a spectacular wine or something else so lovely and never open the package, pop the cork, wear it or just enjoy it? There is this thought that we'll save it for a special occasion, we'll use it some day and that once we use it up, it will be gone. But really, when is someday? The special occasion is called life and we're living it right now! We are never guaranteed anything else other than today, this moment, now!
I've become better at burning my favorite candles and using other items that were once being saved for the right time but these plates are one of the last things that still need to be broken in. What's the point in having nice things if we don't use them? It reminds me of the days when women would cover their sofa with plastic or not let their family, especially children into the 'sitting' room for fear of something getting dirty or ruined. What's worse is that many skin creams, soap and specialty food items go bad after a period of time, causing us to miss out on enjoying the very thing we were saving in the first place. So, today I am FINALLY breaking in our plates! While we have more suitable dishes for a casual dinner, tonight I'm finally going to eat my salad out of one of the clam shell plates and eat my main course from one of the dinner plates and tomorrow I'm going to do the same and each day after until I've used every one of them, so they are no longer new.
What about you? Have you been saving a few things for someday because you are waiting for just the 'right' occasion? I encourage you to just break it in or open it up and enjoy it TODAY! :)
