My Favorite Things – The Vase

A few weeks before Christmas my husband broke a piece of glassware that came to me after my favorite aunt Maxine passed. She had many pretty things she’d acquired over her 90+ years, some of which I chose to keep or pass on to my daughter.

One of my favorite things

One in particular was a delicately made blue pitcher which could have been used for a vase. I loved the color, the nearly clear glass. It became one of my favorite pieces.

I heard the crash but didn’t investigate until hubs came in and told me he’d knocked it over while putting the window shade down. Initially, I was upset. But there was nothing to be done. It couldn’t be put back together. By the next day, I was over it. It was only a sentimental thing that I liked a lot. I’d miss it, but I don’t miss things for very long. Hubs had apologized, and I did my best to convince him it was okay. I wasn’t angry. Just a bit sad to have lost it.

Christmas is not a big deal. We’ve been married for a long time, and I don’t need more jewelry or perfume or clothes. We’d already bought what has turned out to be one of my favorite gifts ever: a robotic vacuum. Our gift to each other.

I gave hubs something for Christmas a bit early because I knew he desperately needed it and so he wouldn’t go buy it himself. But it wasn’t an expensive gift by any means.

He asked me what I wanted, and I told him bath stuff. I like Dr. Teal’s. Go to Walmart. Get me anything in that line. That’s what I’d like.

He said he wanted to get me a vase to replace the one he broke. I said it’s not necessary. You can’t replace it. It’s not a big deal. I’m over it and I don’t need another THING.

I could not convince him. The conversation left me frustrated. Shouldn’t a gift be about the recipient and not the giver? Why couldn’t he just get me bath stuff and leave it at that?

Why can’t he just get me what I want?

When I relayed the conversation to my son, he said, “Dad is not hearing you. He needs to replace the thing he broke because he feels bad, and this is his way of making it up to you.” His explanation did nothing to relieve my disgruntlement. Why can’t he just get me what I want?

Christmas arrives. I already know I’m getting a vase because I’ve been informed it won’t arrive before Christmas. I prepare to be disappointed.

As we open gifts, I discover an awful lot of Dr. Teal’s items. The first one is from my son’s girlfriend. But there are three more clumsily wrapped and awkwardly taped boxes, (obviously from hubs) which contain a multitude of Dr. Teal’s bath and body products. Yippee! I got exactly what I wanted after all.

Last but not least, there is one more unwrapped box that’s quite heavy. It contains something that is wrapped in layer upon layer of bubble wrap.

Alas, it is one of the most stunning pieces I have ever seen. It looks nothing like the one that broke.

But it’s now one of my favorite things.

©2023 by Barbara Meyers

#DrTeals