10/4/09

Don't Cry over Broken Dishes!



Don't cry over spilled milk.

Don't cry over broken dishes, right?

In the midst of our remodel, my favorite William Sonoma plates broke. Yes, 4 are broken - shattered - and I am very sad.



I've used these green salad plates for years! Entertaining in the days at our old house, they matched many of my  tablecloths, and were my favorites. For a few minutes there, when it happened, I was not a happy girl! 

But I quickly had to let it go.

I wish William Sonoma would send me some new ones. Now wouldn't it be nice to have a set of 8 again? :)

Anyway, what special items have broken in your home, where you had to "just let it go?"

26 comments:

Tuscan Lady said...

Three years ago I was cleaning my hutch. As I was replacing all my good dishes ans crystal glassware, the second glass shelf fell onto the bottom level. I lost ALOT of my good china, my crystal glassware that we received as wedding gifts, and all the crystal glassware I received when my husband's grandmother passed away. I also lost some of my teacup collection and assorted vases, etc.
I had broken glass, ceramic, crystal and china everywhere. At first, I just stood there, not believing what had just happened. As I started cleaning up the mess, I prayed (while crying of course) that the Lord would give me a heart of understanding ... a heart that understood that these were just things. I eventually came to a place where I could appreciate and be grateful for the time of service the *things* gave our family, and I could be ok about losing them.

Angie said...

We took our kids on a trip to Cambria to see Hearst Castle. While we were there they had this GORGEOUS ceramic rooster. I loved it but it was $100 and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much. We got home from the trip and I was unpacking and then it was time to fix the kids lunch. I walked into the kitchen and there was the rooster. My hubby somehow was able to buy it and hide it in the car without me knowing. Anyhow- months later I went to open the wood blinds in our kitchen and the blinds came out of the bracket slamming down and breaking the head off the rooster!! Luckily I was able to glue it back together but for that brief moment when it first happened?? That was painful! Hope you get some replacement plates! ;)

Anonymous said...

My Oma gave me her set of juice glasses when I moved into my first house with my husband. She had those glasses for as long as I can remember- I think they're older than I am. I remember using them at her house when I was a kid. They were the perfect size for oj in the morning.
I forget how many she gave us, but a few have broken since she's given them to us. One was my fault as I use them as water glasses by my bedside. I took a sip and went to put it back on the table, but totally missed. Another time my husband broke one while washing it, and I was so angry, but I just had to let it go.
I know I can never replace them, but I would hate for them to sit in a cupboard.

Carrie G said...

It's not exactly a dish, but before we were married my husband bought me these 2 tiny carved tea pots from Macau. They were less than an inch tall and each had a poem carved into its side in Chinese characters. My 4 y/o daughter was very drawn to these wee little things which were in a printer's box, so I put them away to avoid her grabbing them. Unfortunatley, she found the hidden stash and the whole box crashed down, breaking only my two little tea pots and one other little figurine. I still have the broken bits, but I should just let it go.

Sandy, maybe you can take up mosaic tiling and reuse your broken dishes.

Zaankali said...

My sister painted a special Christmas plate at one of those "paint a dish" places as a gift a few years back. I loved it. She did such a great job on it and I really treasure handmade things. Last Christmas my youngest dropped it. She instantly started crying. She knew how much mom liked that plate. I had to QUICK put on my "it's just a plate" face. It was hard but my daughter's hurt heart was much harder to see. It took a little convincing to get her feeling better but it was a good lesson that my relationship with her is and always will be more important than any "thing".
Smiles!

Betts said...

Why do the favorites break, but the stuff you'd just as soon have go, lasts forever? I hope you find something you like as well or better.

Julie Gillies said...

Oh no, Sandy! I'm so sorry about your favorite plates.

When we moved into our current house 6 years ago, one of the movers dropped a Heisey bowl, worth no small amount of money. On top of that, it was a gift from my husband's aunt & uncle. It was a sad moment indeed!

CandiShack said...

Haha, I saw the title to your post and had to come read it. I swear, I brake at least three things a week. And they always have something wet on them - like applesauce, or tomatoes, so it's a big pain to clean up. Luckily, though, nothing yet has been too valuable or sentimental...knock on wood.

Laura Ann said...

I had my table all set beautifully with my Gail Pittman Siena accent pieces on my new halloween runner from PB(pitcher with fall arrangement in it, and a platter with two small accent bowls). My then 14 month old walked over to the table one day and pulled on the runner and CRASH! Of course I was first afraid he had gotten hit by the ceramic or gotten cut, but once I discovered he was ok realized that my precious pieces were brocken. (This incendent was within a week of loosing $300+ worth of SL@H merchandise at an event through a freak accident). At this point I just had to have an attitude of "oh well" because no one got hurt in either incident and it wasn't worth sitting down and bawling over whe that wouldn't solve anything. Hope your WS plates magically appear like the rooster ;-)

Daily laying it at the Master's feet!
Laura Ann

DONNA said...

When we moved into town a few years ago, I was packing my Dept. 57 Christmas Snow Village pieces and two of them "clanked" together, busting them to no repair. I was very sad. What would really bother me now is to break a piece of my fiesta collection...I'm afraid I would have to just go to "the home for the bewildered"...at the very least, I would just want to left alone to have a good cry and then, I would go to ebay and see if I could retrieve what was lost.

Barbara said...

Small tokens are so big, my uncle went to Cuba on one of many civl rights trips he had always brought some little gift back to me and my sisters well these it was a very small hand made clay cup that I used for toothpicks and I put it out with an olive tray and our big lovable black lab Simon decided to help himself to the olives and the cup fell and broke into many little peices. I was not mad but sad because my uncle was not with us at the time and a few months after we lost Simon I still have all those peices of clay in my buffet and every now and then I get a happy reminderof them both

Sandy aka Doris the Great said...

Many years ago, my husband gave me an Ariel watch -- Flounder and Sebastian chased each other round as the long and short hands. Silly watch; why he bought it for me, I'll never know, but I just adored it. After we split up & while we were still in the being angry at each other stage, it went missing -- only to turn up in my clothes dryer! Yes, I'd had it in a pocket, forgotten about it, and it went through washer and dryer -- and didn't survive. There were pieces everywhere. Well, regardless of how we felt about each other, I sat on the laundry room floor and sobbed and sobbed. It took me at least 2 weeks before I'd let that one go!

Happily, my ex and I eventually became very close again. But I still miss the watch!

Susie said...

Pretty much all of my nice stemware has been broken. It was very delicate glass we picked for our wedding registry when we were young and silly. I will never spend a lot on dishes again, well technically the wedding sets were presents, but you know what I mean. Sorry about your plates, so sad.

Elizabeth said...

Bummer! So sorry, Sandy.

Five kids in this house... The question is, what hasn't broken around here? ;)

Bombtastic Belle said...

I remember when I was unpacking after our move from TX to FL this past year and I got to my dinner plates and two of them had a nice knick on the edges - I actually cried, which lead to my husband thinking I was insane. *lol* My Mom had gotten them for us from Home Interiors the year before for Christmas, and they no longer sell them, so I go on with the two chipped plates and pretend I don't see them. *lol*

Becky said...

We went to Jiangxi, China to adopt our oldest daughter. Jiangxi is known for its beautiful eggshell porcelain. We bought a gorgeous vase that we displayed in our music room, and planned to give to her when she was an adult with her own home. One evening, my husband was playing the piano for the girls, and the vase just came crashing down off the shelf - no one was anywhere near it. We think it was maybe the vibrations from the piano? I cried, and kept the largest piece I could find as a memento. Yes, it was just a "thing", but for our family, it represented our daughter's adoption and her home province. I hope we can get back to Jiangxi someday and get her another one...

Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

My husband became so famous for breaking glassware that I rarely ask his help doing dishes. :)

When we moved in the house we live in now, he dropped a box that held two of my pretty teapots. Both were quite unique and I couldn't replace them.

Instead of crying, I decided to be happy the other teapots and teacups were safe! :)

Anonymous said...

We only have a few really nice things we got as wedding gifts. My little son got into the pair of candleholders that were very special to me. He dropped one, and the crystal shattered everywhere. Thankfully he was ok, and being concerned for his well-being made me delay the sad feelings. I WAS surprised at how sad I felt. We don't use them a lot, but they were always in view. I told myself to just let it go and be glad my son didn't get cut. I haven't even thought about it until now, and I'm happy about that. :)

Jackie said...

If it is not too late, perhaps you could use the plate shards to create a mosaic of some kind.
Hope you can find a replacement. I have had to "let go" of several special dishes over the years but especially remember a special mug that was broken by my room-mate in college. She felt terrible so I tried to play it down and not get upset. Later, my sister gave me another mug...still have it and its even more special!

mrsgarageflower said...

For our first anniversary I had sent a hand written copy of our wedding vows off to an artisan who inscribed them - in my own handwriting - onto glass. This was my gift to my husband. Well about 2 months after our anniversary my father in law was helping my husband move some stuff around and next thing I know is that my FIL came to me saying "Rhonda honey, I broke this"... oh was my heart hurting...

Unknown said...

Oh Sandy, I am so sorry. I have some broken dishes too and am so sad. But know that a family that loves, eats and entertains comes with a few dings and bumps. You now can start your Christmas list.

Courtney said...

When I was little, I marveled over a glass and silver jelly jar my mother had. She brought it out for all the special occasions and put her homemade jams in it. I remember asking her if I could have it when she died (and then feeling incredibly guilty and sad for even thinking that way--at 6 yrs old). When she did die many, many years later, I got the jelly jar. I pulled it out for special occasions too, until the cabinet that housed it collapsed and all contents fell to the floor--breaking. Including the jar. I was saddened for the lost history to pass along to my kids, but decided to consider it an opportunity to replace it with something else and make new memories w/ my family. So happy that Williams-Sonoma has such lovely products (I got a pretty amber glass turkey dish that I use for cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving--my fave holiday).

Susan said...

My first thought was the same as a few above me ... make a mosaic bowl or platter from the bits of broken plate, and you'll have a new piece to treasure.

God bless, and thanks for your blog.

Elizabeth said...

I love your plates. I'm sad for you over the broken ones.

I broke some of my wedding china and crystal. :( I almost cried. Then, I remembered that it's only stuff (stuff I really loved!).

I hope you can find these plate again and replace the broken ones.

GiBee said...

My mom (who is from Peru) had gone there and bought me a hand painted luncheon set, tureen, and a few other serving pieces. In order to ensure that they got back in one piece, she had to carry them throughout the airport with her, dislocating her shoulder in the process. She gave these to me as a bridal shower gift.

When we purchased our first home, we had been married about 10 years. My FIL was carrying in that box, tripped and dropped the box, shattering a lot of the pieces.

HE was so upset he cried. I was less upset over the dishes, and more concerned over HIM!

After all, they are materialistic things. Yes, we get attached to them, and yes, to this day, I still miss them, but I'm more attached to my FIL, and glad he didn't injur himself!

Joanie @ The Bright Side said...

Oh, my. I've had to say good-bye to so many things in the last 20 years. Our son has severe autism and I can't begin to tell you all the items that he has ruined. In the early days, it use to REALLY upset me. Red fingernail polish sprinkled across the carpet, lipstick smeared all over the new comforter, books ripped to shreds. You get the idea. But, as the years passed, I became better at limiting his access to items that I realized he would be drawn to and a master at getting stains out. But, more importantly, I learned that these are just material things, replaceable or just not that important in the big picture. This is just one of the many, many life lessons he has taught me.