Years ago, my late wife bought 28 table settings with the idea (expressed to me) that she could entertain her extended family at one sitting. Unless someone has either a large family, or a large circle of acquaintances she entertains lately, as well as a dining area large enough to entertain them, I can't see this being a reasonable purchase.
These place settings were purchased before I met my wife, and were never used while we were married. About a year after she died, my girlfriend and I packed these table settings into two large Rubbermaid containers, and transported them to my brother's place for storage. My intentions were to give these place settings to my niece when she got married. But this was not to happen, as she got married in London and is living a minimalist lifestyle unlike that of her parents and grandparents. These place settings ended up sitting in my brother's basement for over 25 years, and didn't need to be dealt with until now.
Recently, my brother decided to deal with long deferred maintenance on his money pit of a house. One of the things he needed to take care of was fixing the foundation of his house and doing a fresh pour of cement in the basement of his house. This meant that everything in the basement had to be cleared out. As a result, I decided to keep 6 place settings, and give the rest to charity.
So, I drove to my brother's place and sorted through these table settings, separating them into a set of 6 for me, and a set of 22 for the charity. Once done with that, my brother and I went to a German Restaurant in Franklin Square. I was looking for something tasty to eat, and I noticed the lack of Sauerbraten on the menu. (This was the last dish my wife cooked for me before she was too weak to cook anything.) Coincidentally, It was about this time of the year when she became too ill to go to work, and the severity of her illness couldn't be denied any longer. My memories of my late wife were getting triggered right and left. Yet, it wasn't strong feelings of sadness I felt. Instead, it was a feeling of letting go of the past. Part of my wife was moving on to a (hopefully) better place.
Would my late wife approve of what I did? Who knows? But I'm hearing no complaints from the great beyond....
