My cousin Pam told me she tried for years to give Gramma’s china to her kids. No takers. The beautiful crystal? No thanks. She gave it away wherever she could and in the end put a smaller box into her attic marked, “These things were precious to me. Do what you want with them.”
She still has some items that were part of a daily ritual with her mother who died at age 61 - way too early. My aunt owned a restaurant and worked nights. She also had nine kids. Pam doesn’t know how it got started, but every morning, they “had” to take a tray with her coffee and cigarettes to their mother as she sat in the dining room and woke up. The kids would then sit and talk with her awhile. She woke up gently, they had time with their mother. Why wouldn’t Pam still have that coffee carafe?
