When my mom moved into Assisted Living, she sent my sister 3 huge boxes of the good china and crystal. and it sat and sat and sat in her garage…but we were thinking along these lines. It’s meant to be used, who cares if it breaks. So when her daughter came to town for her baby shower, we opened the boxes and served on the good china, poured wine and bubbly into the crystal right along with the paper napkins and plastic cutlery. (The estate folks had sold the too heavy to ship good silver for good money!!!) It didn’t match. who cared? We had a great time! The guests felt honored which we enjoyed given the lavish baby duds they brought. And we sent her back to Cambridge, England with place settings for four!!!

Hoarding is so wide spread in our culture. keeping without using I mean. this isn’t about quantity or clutter though it certainly can be. But the china and the crystal and our ideas are meant to be used. “ And the truth is that there are ideas behind those that you think are your very best.” But they’re hiding behind the current ones. we gotta use the current ones to get to them. Like the way Jerry Seinfeld used to tell his mom when she scolded him for eating a cookie before dinner and losing his appetite — not to worry, Mom, there’s another appetite waiting in line behind that one! and one behind that, and ones behind that ad infinitum!!!! So let’s treat our ideas and our good china less like museum pieces and more like hunger!!! Yum!