"These happy golden years are passing by, these happy golden years." Laura Ingalls Wilder

Sunday, April 02, 2006

The Plate, The Passage of Time (and Pope John Paul II)

I read a headline today about the faithful holding a vigil at the tomb of Pope John Paul II and thought to myself ... "Oh, my ... he passed away just a few months ago ... in April "... The realization soon struck me that it WAS now again April and that a whole year had passed. I vividly remember the day he died ... but before it was announced by the smoke signal at the Vatican ... I was antique/vintage ware shopping at a local shop and found a 50% off table with a commorative John Paul II plate for sale. I looked at my dh and he said, "You should probably buy that plate as the Pope is on his deathbed" ... I paid the $7 price and walked away. Upon my arrival home, my daughter (#2) made the announcement that the Pope had died. Dh suggested that I should check out Ebay and sell the plate ... There must have been over 100 different plates and coins and other misc. items for sale. I'm not Catholic ... but just could not bring myself to make a profit from his death so set the plate aside. My mil was over a few weeks later for Mother's Day and spotted the plate sitting on our desk. She being a devout Catholic made reference to the "beautiful" plate. Of course, dh gave it to her as a special addition to her Mother's Day flowers. She was so proud to display that plate and soon had it in her china hutch.
Dh and his younger brother have a friendly sibling rivalry that the family compares to Ray Romano and his brother on "Everybody Loves Raymond" ... it's always in jest as to which one of them is Mom's favorite son ... jokes are always being made back and forth ... So my dh made mention of the fact the he gave Mom the special Pope plate and that Mom favored him (lol) ... Little brother's response the next day as he visited Mom for lunch and dh called was, "guess what plate I'm eating my lunch off of (lol ... jab ...)." Those two boys may never grow up!

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