The hazards of using the good china

Spyder broke one of our plates tonight. I suppose this is a natural consequence, since we do use our china as our everyday dishes. Today's loss was only the third we've had, in the 11 very full years of marriage.

It seems almost amusing, this broken plate, since Skeeter and I are celebrating our 12th anniversary today. For the first year and a half, I didn't take the china out of the boxes. Not a single piece. We had an extra room in our apartment, and it was stuffed full of the "good" things. I didn't want to risk breaking the good stuff, so it sat, unused, in the extra room.

We moved when I was 8 months pregnant with Spyder. In moving all of that unused china, at that moment, I vowed that I would use it. Use it all. What's the point in having it if it otherwise?

And we have used the china. Within 6 months, I had gotten rid of all of the old, mismatched plates and bowls and saucers that we used for everyday. We've used the "good china" ever since. My one concession has been to have plastic plates for the children, but tonight they both told me that they don't need or want the plastic plates any longer. So tomorrow, those will be dropped off at the thrift store. Even after Spyder broke the dinner plate. It was an accident, and accidents happen.

In the 10 years that we've consistently used this china, we've broken only three pieces, including tonight's -- two dinner plates and a salt shaker. I opted not to replace the salt shaker, mostly because I couldn't find one at the Lenox outlet. I will replace it though, as soon as I find one that's cheap enough.