Bessie's Tea Cups

If you know any Spences, (see Spence & Robertson Pedigree Charts) you know that they keep EVERYTHING, broken and whole, expired and from before expiration dates existed, ball gowns and fabric scraps, canceled checks and World War II bonds.Eastern Star keepsakes, 1953

  You never know if you are going to find cash between the china, so you have to examine       ev.  er.  y.  th.  ing.  They know what they have and where it is, which is useless to us once they have died.  My mother claimed there was a radio cabinet, now antique, in the cellar; I never saw the walls of the cellar, much less any furniture.  My grandmother periodically declared, "We have boxes we've never unpacked [in 40 years] that we brought from Valley Stream" (their previous house).

When we emptied my mother's 4-bedroom house with its full basement and 2-car garage,  it contained the possessions of 6 adult lives:  besides my parents, there were Nana and PopPop and Aunt Marion and Uncle Havelock.  I short-sightedly labeled all the boxes I wanted, "Go to Virginia."  That left me with a storage unit full of boxes that I had no idea what was in.  I methodically brought home 6 boxes at a time, found homes for the treasures inside, and went back for 6 more.

I didn't want all these treasures in boxes in the basement that no one knew was there but me, for no one to ever see or appreciate.  Of course, that entailed the buying of many sets of shelves.

Then I found 2 boxes whose contents I had never seen before.  From them, I kept unwrapping teacup after teacup after teacup like a clown pulling out silk scarves.   I had never seen them, but my older cousin Sandy had.  These were the boxes from Valley Stream that had never been unpacked.

                                     

My mother drank her after-dinner coffee from 2 china cups my father had given her that she alternated between.  Her favorite was the pink one in the top right at the back.  I cannot find the yellow one.

Anne & Al May 25, 1959 is from my mother's bridal shower

I obviously needed more sets of shelves, or in this case, china cabinets.  My china cabinet, which you can see in the background with the ornate top, holds the 5 sets of china of my grandmother, mother and me that weren't tea cups.  But I couldn't find any that would show the cups instead of hiding them.

Then my cousin Sandy and I visited our other cousin Nea in her new home.  The two of them are junk shop junkies, so we traversed the countryside shopping at thrift stores.  We found one store that had me drooling at 2 sets of gorgeous curio cabinets, not too big, with mirrors and lights and glass shelves, in perfect condition.  Sandy thought I was a little crazy, but I explained that I thought the cabinet would fit in my van.  While she negotiated expertly with the owner, I tried to decide between them.                                                                                 Clan tartans

We measured and moved stuff around, and then the idea that they both might fit entered my brain and wouldn't leave.   That's when Sandy knew I was crazy.   Both big cabinets wouldn't fit, but if we could take out a seat, one big and one small would.  So Sandy said we could put a van seat in her trunk, and she would bring it home for me the next month.  She, Nea, and I had to do a lot of maneuvering of cars, vans, passengers, and luggage, but we did it!  In case you have no reason to know this, now you do:  vehicle seats are HEAVY.

the Canada shelves

Why would anyone want, or collect, teacups and other china?  We ask that nowadays.  But in looking at my grandparents' lives and those of their friends and relations, I saw that they all began in poverty.  No chance of even a high school education, counting every penny, starting work - hard physical dirty labor - young, saving every scrap for another use.  They ended up with nice houses, college for their children, vacations.  How did they pull themselves up into the middle class and feel like they belonged there?  By cultivating class and surrounding themselves with like-minded people:  joining fraternal organizations like the Eastern Star. Buying a piano.  Wearing suits and dresses for Sunday drives to the park.  Hosting elaborate dinners with china, crystal, and silver patterns, cloth napkins and tablecloths.  Sewing new dresses for every occasion.  Hanging matching towels in the bathroom.  Keeping yourself informed by subscribing to Life and National Geographic.   All to boost yourself and each other into the middle class and stay there.  We have the luxury of not caring about any of these things, because they got us where we are today.

The very last box from my mother's house to be opened should have been the first one.  It turned out to be from the kitchen and was full of half-finished boxes of cereal and crackers, 2 years old now.  We had fun spreading it all out on the lawn to see if the birds preferred Oreos, Cheezits, or bran flakes.  Fluffy white popcorn was the favorite.