A Silver Spoon in Mom's Mouth

Mom grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Selma during the Great Depression. Technically they weren't dirt poor; there was plenty of dirt. But not as much of everything else.

The youngest of three girls, all quite lovely, Mom was occasionally spoiled as the baby of the bunch. One of her uncles, a cab driver an hour away in Montgomery[1], used to come visit on Saturday. He'd give her a double handful of change-- mostly nickels and dimes.[2] It was usually around five dollars. Today that will barely buy you a fast food lunch; back then it could have fed the family for a week. But her uncle was adamant that his princess could spend it however she liked, so she and her sisters or friends blew it on ice cream, sodas and movies.

Given that movies cost a dime and sodas a nickel at the time, this is the equivalent of blowing several hundred dollars a week on movies and sodas today. She did occasionally buy something she wanted or needed, or presents, but overall, they didn't have much.

When Sharon and I were getting married, Mom was appalled that we weren't registering for fine china, glassware, silverware, etc. It meant a lot to her to have nice things, and she was adamant we deserved them. But there were a lot of things we needed (we had next to nothing) and stuff we couldn't use every day was not high on our list.

We went back and forth for a couple of weeks. Finally, she threw out the big one. "What of the president comes to eat?" I'm pretty sure I laughed, or at least snorted.

"Mom, Jimmy Carter is President. While I don't see him coming to eat with us, I think he'd like it eating on everyday stuff, like just folk. But if not, he could go eat somewhere else."

Aghast at what her son had become, she gave up.

Or so I thought. Fast forward at least a decade.

Mom found some silverware at an estate sale. The chest was hand painted (stenciled?). She bought it for us as a gift. She said it was really cheap; I was never quite sure if that was the case, or if she was afraid we wouldn't take it otherwise. We would have; how do you turn down a loving gift from your Mom or dad?

We only use it a few times a year; we really should use it more (frequent use keeps it shiny!) Whereas a lot of wedding silver tends to be heavy and ornate, this is simple and light, and I love it. I don't normally notice the utensils I use for eating unless there's a problem, but I love using these. (The serving utensils are clearly not original, but we're pretty much a mix and match family, so that works just fine!)

Mom could be very gracious, but one of the times she could be a sore loser was when she thought her kids were settling for less than they should. I'm glad she won this round.

[1] The world was bigger then, and the roads rougher. Especially in Alabama.
[2] Trivia fact: Dimes were still 90% silver at this time.