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October 15, 2013

Every Thing Must Break ~ Talley Beth Gale

Tonight, I experienced a blessing. 

I had to throw away a Thing.

I’ve been trying to downsize the number of Things in my world. Less is more, I think.

Tonight, that maxim was put to the test.

I had to say farewell to a Thing that had so far passed the purge test.

I walked into my kitchen, where my tea was steeping. There was water all over the counter, all around the tea mug. Did the mug have a leak?

I picked it up.

Sure enough, there was a large cracking running down the side of one of my favorite mugs.

My mother had bought this mug at a student art show back home and mailed it to me two years ago. Far, far away at college, I could hold a warm mug of something and think of my mother. I even wrote the artist a thank you note.

I now live in into a house full of other people, all of us with our own artsy mugs that have had to learn to live together, squashed up in the barracks of a cabinet. There are occasional casualties.

When I realized the mug had such a terrible, leaky crack, I considered putting it somewhere for decoration, to look at later as a work of art.

But, like I said, I’m trying to downsize.

So, before more tea could leak out, I poured the contents into another mug – the latest addition to the mug army, actually—and held the still-hot, empty present from my mommy in my hands.

I thought of the love that had been put into this gift. I thought of the time and energy that had been put into creating a piece of art. I took one last look at this pretty Thing, and I gently placed it in my trash bin.

All Done.

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Assistant Ed. Paige Vignola/Ed: Bryonie Wise

 

 

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