Am I spoiled? Yes, I might be.
Okay, this blog isn’t about writing or books. In fact, it’s sort of silly. But I love to cook. And I love to have friends over to eat supper with us. And I have a serious addiction to anything that belongs in a kitchen. Our kitchen is small–not the huge, gourmet kitchen of my dreams, because we can’t afford that. Not that much counter space. But I’ve cooked a LOT of food for a LOT of people in a pretty small space. So, after the kids and grandkids grew up and moved out, almost everything I had was chipped and beaten up, so I decided to restock almost everything I used.
I found three sets of plates that I loved, and unfortunately, bought all of them. Plus, I have a set of special holiday plates for December and Christmas. I have to store them upstairs and trade them out a few times during the year. Which is a decent amount of work, but worth it to me.
The thing is this. I recently went to a thrift store in a pretty poor neighborhood, and the selection of things that people could buy (for really cheap) was depressing. It made me feel so guilty, I took two OTHER sets of dishes that I’d stored in my basement to give to the shop. One set was antique, deep blue, glass plates that I bought forever ago when my sister Patty was alive for tea parties. Patty loved tea parties. She loved fancy, little nibbles on a three-tiered serving platter and deviled eggs in a matching blue glass plate. I only used the set twice a year when I went to the bother of making chicken salad, egg salad, and cucumber tea sandwiches, careful to cut off the crusts. I made scones and tea breads for the second tier, and fancy little eclairs and tarts for the top tier. Just saying, tea parties were a lot of work, but it made her so happy, it was worth it. I haven’t gone to that much bother since Patty died. So, I took the set to the thrift shop. The second set was really pretty red melamine plates with a European type design that I used for picnics. Now that HH and I are older, we’d rather stay indoors and eat in air-conditioning. Sad, huh? But life happens. So I gave them to the thrift shop, too.
Anyway, HH and I went through the house and boxed up things to give to the shop. Nice things that we just don’t use anymore. I hope someone else can use them. But visiting that shop made me feel really spoiled. I am really spoiled. We have to budget, but we’re not poor. And poor looked really sad to me in that shop.
Next to the thrift shop, there’s a food program. It’s in an old church, and the church supports 75 local families who can’t afford to feed their families AND pay bills. It’s depressing. At least, for me, a food addict, the idea of struggling to put food on your table is just sad. So now, I try to take food items to them once every two weeks. HH and I eat so well. If we’re in the mood for scallops, we buy scallops to cook. We can’t afford to eat out that often, but we sure eat well at home. And like I said, I love to cook. I’m not sure I buy the smartest things to take in, but I try to think of what would make a good meal for a family. I always take peanut butter. My daughters craved peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. I try to take cans of tuna and Tuna Helper because it’s a canned meat, and I think that might stretch and be filling. I take cans of beans because beans are protein and make great soups. The food pantry always has cans of vegetables, so I don’t bother with those. I buy boxes of pasta, because it’s filling, too, and boxes of easy to make mac ‘n cheese. I’m not sure if I’m the best food pantry supplier, but I try. And I hope sometimes, a family will get something they can’t get often.
Anyway, visiting those two shops was a humbling experience. I came away feeling richer than I probably am.
