It's Only a Little Cup and Saucer

My maternal grandmother was the one I knew the best.

Bertha Agnes Gearheart Stevens, wife of Corbitt Sullivan Stevens

Each year in October, my parents and I made the trip to Kentucky to bring her back to Ohio for the winter. 

My mom was afraid for her mom, for she still heated her house with a coal stove, 

which meant going out back with a coal bucket

during the ice and snow.

She was always ready to go back home in March,

for it was plantin' time.

But, several years before we began to plan for her winter stay, we made trips to visit both her and my grandfather.

Once, during an extremely hot summer visit, 

we had gone "cemeteryin'".

The older folks knew where every one of their kin was buried.

We were so thirsty for something cool to eat or drink,

so we decided to stop at Raybourn's General Store.

It has since burned down. 

But, you could buy just about anything you would ever need...

from overalls, to foodstuffs, to farm implements.

That included fudgcicles.  

The four of us sat in the car slurping away on our fudgcicles 

when "Mawmaw" took me by my eight-year old hand and took me back into the store.

I was just a bit younger than eight in this photo.

There, she proceeded to buy me the prettiest little 

flowered cup and saucer.

It was one of the few things I ever received from her.

I have grown up,

moved several times,

and raised four children...

and that little cup and saucer has survived it all.

The original cup and saucer are on the left,

but through the years I have found a few more plates that 

resemble the same pattern.

I guess that little cup and saucer 

would be considered antiques today.

I'm not sure anyone in my family 

will ever want this or appreciate its story.

It may end up at Goodwill...

But, it's little story is preserved here.

And, this is probably why I love and admire dishes 

to this day.

I will stop dead in my tracks when I see lovely old dishes.

Now, I remember why.