grandmother's china

i was named after my jewish grandmother. in the jewish tradition (maybe an american tradition, i'm not sure this is across the board in other countries), the next child that is born is named after the last person who died and that would've been my paternal grandmother. she died before my parents married when my dad was in his late twenties.

my grandpa remarried to the only grandma i ever knew whom i loved very much. the passover dishes that my dad's parents used while he was growing up were packed up and put in the basement of the chicago apartment building and left there for years until grandpa died and grandma moved to arizona to be near her family in the mid 1990's.  it was then that my chicago family recovered those dusty boxes and asked if i wanted the passover dishes since they had belonged to my namesake. did i want them?! oy vay! YES of course! i'm VERY sentimental and said, i'll be right up to get them! no, i don't remember that part, of how soon i got them back to arkansas, but i definitely wanted my grandmother's dishes. 

previous to this i had inherited a beautiful mirror of my grandmother's - the only item of hers that i had.  my mother had the mirror in our home while i was growing up and passed it on to me.  when we moved to little rock, handsome husband accidentally hung it with door mollies instead of wall mollies and it came crashing down!!  it's a good thing i'm not superstitious (some jews are very superstitious) but i was really distraught that the only thing i had of hers was now gone -  until i inherited her dishes.

fast forward to a month ago when i took that trip to hot springs to purchase my first ever china cabinet. now grandmother's passover dishes are finally in their "resting place" where they can be seen and used (more frequently) for the first time since i've had them.  oh, they were in my kitchen cabinet and i used them occasionally but not very accessible and certainly not in their rightful place of prominence where i can talk about them and share their history to anyone who might be interested!

something i'd like to do in the future is serve a passover meal with grandmother's dishes. i'd have to study up a lot because tho i'm half jewish i know very little about that side of my heritage and my forefathers' faith. indeed, they are my biological forefathers and my spiritual forefathers as well so it will be an exciting pursuit!

ps:  happy 18th barrett!