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Are We Sentimental About Simple Things We Use Every Day?

By Ann Richardson February 05, 2023 Lifestyle

I made some soup earlier today and, in order to serve it, I reached for my ladle. It is absolutely not a classy ladle – it has a red plastic handle. It probably came from Woolworth’s or the equivalent. But I suddenly had a memory of how and when I got it.

I had just moved into my first ever apartment on my own in my last year of college in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My first two years, as was the norm back then, were spent in college dormitories – women only. My third year had been spent abroad in London, where I lived in a small room and generally ate out.

A friend of a friend had graduated and was moving elsewhere. He had various kitchen utensils that he didn’t think were worth the nuisance of taking with him, so he offered them to her to give to me. Included in this very welcome loot was the ladle.

It was the autumn of 1962.

Keeping Things

Although my donor didn’t think it was worth keeping his kitchen utensils, I did. And somehow, this ladle got packed up along with other things when I left Michigan and, with each subsequent move, this ladle came, too.

It moved to Pittsburgh, then New York City and then London. Indeed, three different homes in London, although I have lived in the third one for over 40 years.

Very occasionally over the years, I have wondered whether I should replace my ladle with a better one. There are much nicer ladles, after all, that would be more fitting for showing to guests.

But when the moment came, I always thought this one worked perfectly well and, after all, I wasn’t inviting the Queen (now King) to dinner.

And so here it is, 60 years later, in my London kitchen drawer, still perfectly useful.

Heirlooms

Of course, some old things have great importance. Perhaps you have some family heirlooms of one kind or another. Perhaps a vase or a painting or a piece of furniture that has been passed down through the family.

These tend to have huge sentimental value. You look forward to handing them on to your own children or grandchildren.

Perhaps you even collect antiques.

Lasting is their point. They have the weight of history, and their age has a genuine importance. They are often seriously valuable.

I have few such things, although I do have one engraved silver serving spoon that was given to my German grandmother at the time of her marriage, some time at the end of the 19th century.

I recently met a third cousin once-removed (I think, such relationships are incredibly complicated) from the same family line, and she said she also had a silver serving spoon very much like it.

Such things have great value as a memory of our grandparents, but no real market value.

Things Last

But my interest here is not in the valuable things we own but the completely non-valuable stuff.

I have, for instance, a box of wooden spools with many different colours of cotton thread, passed on from my other grandmother when she died in 1961. They probably go back to 50 years earlier when she first started sewing. (These fall into that wonderful category of ‘things that might come in useful one day’.)

The thing about simple everyday items is that they often last. Whether valuable or not. The older they are, the more durable they probably are.

And we just keep them and use them and keep them, without a thought.

In the end, you gain a fondness for them for having been with you for so long. Even ladles.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What simple everyday items do you own that are old but not valuable? Can you date when you got them? Do you have a fondness for them? Are things that belonged to your family important to you?

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Cathy

I have a red plastic handled grapefruit sectioning knife that was my mother’s that I acquired in 1965. All of my 4 children, as well as their friends, had their grapefruit served sectioned, sugared and with a maraschino cherry on it. Because that little knife made such an impression on them I had to get the friends a modern version of it, however, my kids, ranging 43 to 55, all think the grapefruit knife will be theirs. I also acquired a used utensil set of my sister’s in 1965. They are wood handled and I still use the large mixing spoon and spatula. Always made cookies with the spoon and it holds a special memory for all the kids.

Teddee Grace

I really relate to what you have written. In about 1968, I had moved into my first studio apartment on the north side of Chicago. I purchased a set of steak knives at the dime store on Howard Street, not far from the elevated station. It, too, was probably a Woolworth’s or a Kresge’s. I can’t recall. The steak knives, engraved “Robinson Stainless USA,” are still the steak knives I have in my everyday flatware drawer, and I use them daily. I don’t have a dishwasher now, but they did go through a couple of decades when they went through the dishwasher on a regular basis. Oh, the meals, the relationships, the kitchens and homes they’ve seen and the different cities to which they’ve been moved. The wood is still good and the rivets are still solid.

Kari

I would have to say a I have a much beloved potato peeler, I got it at the state fair, some 30 odd years ago, It’s a company that is no longer in business, which is a shame, the potato peeler is wicked sharp and rather sinister looking…But the reason I care about it so much is my Aunt had all the same brand of knives, and serving ware in her home back in the day. I use that peeler and it reminds me of her, her kitchen, her amazing food, smile.

Last edited 1 year ago by Kari
susan

I still enjoy using all my kitchen ware from when I got married, 56 years ago….they are all still perfectly fine and will never wear out…the stainless steel mixing bowls, the utensil set, and the tupperware and Corningware is still in perfect condition and I am sentimental and pragmatic….and love knowing they are still with me.

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The Author

Ann Richardson’s most popular book, The Granny Who Stands on Her Head, offers a series of reflections on growing older. Subscribe to her free Substack newsletter, where she writes fortnightly on any subject that captures her imagination. Ann lives in London, England with her husband of sixty years. Please visit her website for information on all her books: http://annrichardson.co.uk.

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