Memories Etched in Glass (And Clay and Plastic!)

Thanks to a friend and fellow blogger I have been inspired.

I was reading over here the other day as my friend regaled the list of chairs that have impacted her life. It got me thinking about my own little collection. It is somewhat odd probably; not nearly as meaningful as her chair stories of grandparents and family history, but it is a sweet collection to me.

I collect glassware. Now, this may come as a shock to my mother, who only last week brought a set of glasses to my home because the week before I could not find six matching glasses in my cabinet. (In my defense, I do have really nice stemware from my wedding gifts, but those are for more formal occasions).

My husband and I each have the habit of fixing a glass of tea and leaving the house with it. This means that most of my “matching” sets of everyday glassware go missing, quite frequently.

All of that aside, I do have a glassware collection. I even have a box in the attic of drinking apparatuses that I just can’t part with, so I moved them out of the cabinet and up to the attic. It comforts me to know they are there – I am a weirdo – I'll be the first to shout it.

When I started thinking about my unique little collection, the first glasses that jumped to the forefront of my mind are a set of four “Care Bear” glasses from somewhere around 1985. These would probably be snapped right up by a knowledgeable flea market rep, but they were gifts of purchase from Pizza Hut, and I have a set of four. I think for some reason I thought they would make a great addition to my home and I made sure to get a complete set of four. Thank goodness I did not go for eight or heavens twelve. I would have no cabinet room left. Oddly enough these glasses spent about eighteen years at the bottom of my hope chest (hoping to get used obviously) and a few years ago I cleaned that out and put them in the cabinet. I think I thought they would be fun for my daughter to use, since Care Bears are making a comeback, but I think I would scream if I saw her small hands on them – so I have them at the top of the cabinet… again – I am a weirdo with clearly an unnatural attachment to glasses bearing cute bear images!

On that same shelf resides a mug from the each of last three jobs I held before becoming a stay at home mommy. There is a mug from the medical device company, a mug from the recycling plant and a pretty clear coffee cup with the world map etched on it from my last job as secretary to an Education and Missions minister.

I have a few plastic cups that I really love as well. Two Coca-Cola themed cups help me remember my friend Laura and how she inspired me to start collecting Coke memorabilia. There is a beach themed cup that makes me giddy to drink out of it and pretend I am at the beach. Also a really tall plastic cup that came from a local chicken joint and every time I drink from it I remember the fun afternoon lunch I enjoyed there with a dear friend.

There are four handmade pottery coffee cups that just scream out warmth and coziness and were a gift from my parents. Bought from a very special pottery shop in the North Georgia mountains, one of my favorite places and to have a piece of it in my home is like heaven to me.

Over the last few years, some of the sweetest new additions to the collection are my child’s sippy cups, first mugs and sweet little juice glasses with the likes of floating ladybugs or monkeys decorating their exterior. These are precious to me and I am sure I will keep one of each on that top shelf by those dear Care Bear glasses for many years to come.

My very newest treasures are the six new glasses that my mom brought me just last week. Every time I drink from them I will always remember how my sweet mother came to my aid in the middle of my glassware crisis.

They may not be worth much, they may be a weird collection, some of them are not even very pretty, but nonetheless, those mugs and glasses and plastic cups hold a lifetime of memories for me. Each one represents a time in my life. Together they are my memories, good, bad, sad and happy…all stored on a shelf in my kitchen cabinet, just waiting to be held and used and remembered once again.