Unpacking Memories

When my farmor (paternal grandmother) passed away four years ago, my parents asked me the inevitable question of what I wanted from her house. Living on the other side of the Atlantic, this ruled out the beloved antique furniture, but that’s not what I wanted anyway. I had the answer ready: “I want the china dessert bowls.”

After dinner at farmor’s, we could always count on ice cream with O’hoj chocolate topping served in these beautiful bowls. It was special.

I didn’t have an opportunity to bring these bowls home until a couple of years ago, and by that time, we were already living in our tiny apartment with most stuff in storage, so the bowls remained in their newspaper wrapping. Until yesterday. When I lovingly unwrapped each bowl, mourned the 10th bowl which was cracked right down the middle, and washed each of the remaining nine by hand. Today, I’m buying ice cream so we can instate these bowls as members of our household.

Of course, there was no way I was going to end up with just the dessert bowls, despite having an abundance of cousins. My parents surprised me with a set of these tiny, fragile glasses with gorgeous etching. I could easily crush these glasses with one hand. Potential usage includes vase for spring flowers or water glasses for an old-fashioned dinner party.

Based on how much I love boiled eggs (ideally with a dollop of Swedish caviar spread), I also ended up with eight of these adorable egg cups. I mean, look at them! The best part is not visible in this image – the word “CHINA” is hand-written inside the base of each one.

The final, and most mysterious, item I inherited was this glass creation. It intrigued the TSA agent who had to take a look at it after it showed up as a big, dangerous blob going through the security checkpoint in Newark. Just yesterday, I figured out that it is a vase. This makes it useful. It seemed odd that my grandmother would own something that was not useful.

My farmor is my greatest inspiration for simple living. It was part of her everyday life. As a teenager, I used to make fun of the fact that she saved plastic bags. Now I know she was on to something. The family never owned a car. It was all biking or public transportation. She maintained a great garden and grew much of their food in the summer months. And I think she wore the same clothes her entire adult life.

As we remember those who went before us, let’s recall that simple living was the way of life. We are simply unpacking their lifestyle…

As I ended up writing this post in two sessions, I was able to provide a snapshot of the instatement of my farmor’s dessert bowls. Ice cream following Sunday lunch is a good tradition.

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