The Bowl
Some people move homes very little, some move very often. I am one of the latter.
As we move to our second home here in London, I pack up the fragile items from the hutch, the one that belonged to my Aunt Jennie (Quarrie) who also happened to live here in London, and wrap them carefully in the moving paper.
As I pick up a large “V” shaped glass potato chip bowl, I see the 1950’s patterned paint slightly faded in some spots, and there is the matching yet smaller bowl, that attaches to hold the dip. I think about packing it carefully so it doesn’t break.
My mind drifts to the future, and I think about the type of comments my teenage daughters’ friends will have when they see it out at our house parties. Realistically they won’t appreciate its history, but “Retro” does have the chance of coming back….again.
It could be cool, it could just be odd, or even go unnoticed.
Then my mind drifts off to think about how many moves this bowl has survived. With my mother, it would have been from London, to the States, and back to Ontario again. St. Thomas, Owen Sound, Guelph, Windsor, back to, and a few more times around Guelph. I don’t remember exactly when she handed it down to me, but it has survived at least four moves with my own family, including our move here from Cambridge a few years ago.
I read an article once, about not just carefully displaying special items, but using them with joy and celebration while you have them, as memories do not need to be replaced if it breaks. The chip bowl will sit out proudly in the next house, and hopefully will survive not too many more moves, until I am retired, relaxing with a movie, and my chips and dip.
