Fine China

Who would have ever thought
That we'd actually own china
Fine bone china to be exact
I sure as hell didn't
Coming from the backgrounds that we did
I don't believe either one of us ever
Thought china would be something
We'd ever think about buying

My family might have been
Considered middle-class
My father worked in construction
When it rained he couldn't work
And if he didn't work, he didn't get paid
So my mother had to work to make ends meet
She was a proofreader for an accounting firm
And we lived in a trailer most of my childhood
So some might consider me trailer trash
My parents never owned fine china
Although my mother collected
Fancy bone china teacups from England
She liked the patterns
But we never could have afforded
Full place settings

You on the other hand
Sometimes you didn't even have
A roof over your head
And when you did
It wasn't the safest place in the world
So the luxury of owning china
Probably never entered
Your mother's mind
You grew up poor
And have called yourself white trash

So who'd have thought that this was something
You'd have been interested in
Not me that's for sure
I mean, it's just the two of us
And we don't entertain
Your family lives up north
We don't have them over for the holidays
So I never thought we needed china

I remember when you proposed
The idea of us buying china
It was back a few months ago
The week before our anniversary
You told me that you wanted us
To buy a couple of place settings
Of some fine china
And that you'd even been looking
At a few Web sites
You'd found a good deal
And the sale ran through October 10th
So we had some time to think about it
I told you that I'd never even
Thought about owning china
I never saw myself as a girly girl
Or even someone who'd need or want
That kind of a luxury
And even though we had looked
At china patterns every now and then
I never saw it as something I wanted

I have to admit that you have
Strong powers of persuasion
Your argument was very convincing
It was the exact same reasons
That I used against buying it
You said it would be for just the two of us
To add more intimacy to our relationship
For romantic candlelit dinners
And special occasions like our anniversary
And for the holidays, Solstice and
Maybe even Valentine's Day
With those images in my head
How could I possibly say no
So, you showed me what you'd
Been looking at online
And I liked what I saw
Lenox "Eternal" with gold accents
They say, "One thing leads to another"
In our case it was all too true
You also showed me the holiday patterns
I liked one pattern and you liked another
But both patterns worked well together
And they would also go perfectly
With the Eternal pattern
So we decided
To mix and match the holiday patterns
That would save some money
Instead of buying two place settings
In both holiday patterns

On Monday, October 9th an order was placed
By that Friday, we owned china
Flatware and crystal goblets
All trimmed in gold
You even called me at work
So I could be there remotely
As you opened the box
We had stuff to do that night
So I only got to see a few pieces
Before we had to go out
I knew we could take more time later
When we woke up Saturday morning
You asked if I'd like to see the china
I sat back and watched you
Excitedly running around the house
You dug a box out of the closet
When I asked why, you replied
That you wanted something nice
To place everything on
The box had items from the wedding in it
And you pulled out one
Of the white brocade napkins
That we used to line the baskets
That our Best Women carried
Then you placed the napkin on the floor
And proceeded to set out a whole place setting
And I was totally blown away
Everything looked so beautiful together
As we stood looking down at it
You reached out and hugged me
And when we pulled back
You smiled and said, "We own china."
All I could do was smile back
And love you...
For who you are
For everything you do
And for everything that you bring into my life

I may have never imagined that we'd own china
But now that we do
I can hardly wait for the first time we use it

10.20.06

CMT

Author's Notes

I saw a bumper sticker last night that read, "I love my wife." I smiled and pointed it out to Kodi. And told her that I needed one for our car. I can't imagine how many ways my life has changed since I met Kodi. I'm just happy that it has.

Now that we own china, we need to have a place where we can use it. Kodi and I have been without a dining table and chairs for almost two years now. We donated the set I bought with my ex to a local charity.

Back in April of this year, Kodi and I finally found a table that we both liked so we bought it. However, we didn't really care for the chairs. But at the time we really didn't need them either, since we had started the second round of renovations on the house. And we didn't have a place for them in the kitchen, because that was the work zone. It was the only space we had for all the painting supplies, boxes of floor tiles, the workbench, and sawhorses. So, the table was stored in its box out in the shed.

That was until last weekend, when we cleaned out most of the house renovation supplies and put them out in the shed. And we finally brought the table into the house. Then Tuesday night we bought a couple of chairs that we'd been looking at for months. The chairs were also in boxes and needed to be assembled, too. The next day, I surprised Kodi by taking the afternoon off work, so I could help her put everything together.

Even though we bought them separately, the table and chairs look great together and we sat down and ate dinner there last night instead of just sitting on the couch like we usually do. It felt really nice, but I'm sure the cats didn't like it. One of them sat on the floor to beg for food, instead of being right there at eye-level with our plates as she was before.

Never in my entire life did I think that I would ever own china. Once after Wolfmoon and I were married, Georgia had asked us when we were going to pick out a china pattern. I remember thinking why in the world did I need to do that. I saw no use in owning china. That was just something rich people did when they wanted to impress others, they brought out the good china. That wasn't how I saw myself.

But now I guess Kodi has changed my mind about all that. She didn't suggest we buy china to impress anyone but ourselves. And that you don't have to be rich to own china or to have really nice things, you just need to have a plan and good budgeting skills. Then it's a matter of sticking to the budget. Which I'll admit can be hard at times, but it's definitely worth it in the end.