Ironies of Life

20 October 2009

I used to joke that when I left my mother’s house to live on my own I had a backpack and a sleeping bag, while the last time I moved it took two moving trucks!
Well, this last time I was down to two suitcases and a small backpack. All I could carry on an airplane without paying extra.

I rented a furnished apartment, so I don’t even have to deal with furniture. My mother’s left me her “good dishes”, but I never took them with me, because I was afraid they would get broken. I do need them now, so I went to my oldest brother’s house to pick them up and guess what? Four of the dessert dishes are missing, and the lid of the soup dish... Oh well! There’s still more than I need. I got the good silverware too, that I had left at my father’s house, and the food processor that I did not bring overseas because of the voltage difference. A friend gave me some nice wine glasses, coffee cups, breakfast bowls and a caraffe. My youngest brother gave me a very pretty caraffe, two salad bowls, a doormat and some clothes pins he won at a benefit auction. I got a TV, a vacuum cleaner and a table cloth from my stepmother, and a set of steak knives. Daughter had a desk and a clothes hamper at her old place. I also got some sheets from my mother’s stash that my oldest brother does not need. So I could fit all of my belongings in a car and bring them to my apartment to start my new life.

I found a few liquor glasses, tea cups, beer mugs and a corkscrew at the apartment, luckily the landlord provided some blankets as well. All I had to buy were a pot and a frying pan, a colander, a cutting board, a salad spinner and wooden spoons. There are a few more things I could use, but they will have to wait.
My dad bought his wife a new car, so I get to keep the old one! That is one big expense I don’t have to worry about.

I really do count my blessings and thank all the people who helped me, especially my father who is always reminding me to let him know if I need anything.
The great irony in this is that I am poorer than I have ever been (when I first moved on my own, I at least had a job), but I drive a BMW and if you come visit you will eat with solid silver and English porcelain! If there will be food.... Is yet to be determined!