Thursday, February 18, 2010

Love and eBay

When Ron and I first set up housekeeping together (back in 1987!!) we had to buy some necessary basics for the kitchen. One of the best things I bought was a set of 3 Pyrex bowls.


The blue one is perfect for mixing up cakes and frostings; the yellow and red ones are perfect for smaller tasks. The red one is also excellent for a "generous" portion of soup, chili, etc. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that I use at least one of them (sometimes two or all three) almost every day.

A few months ago, I was in bed and almost asleep when I heard a crash in the kitchen. I ran out, not even pausing to put on my glasses. The small red bowl was on the floor, broken into many, many pieces. With my blurred vision, I thought some of the small pieces of broken glass were drops of blood. Ron had been standing holding the bowl, eating something out of it when Brutus jumped up on him, startling him, and he dropped the bowl. I put on my glasses and we cleaned up the broken glass. Ron felt bad about breaking the bowl, but I wasn't upset; we'd had the bowl for more than 20 years and had gotten more than our money's worth.

I didn't think anything more about it, but a few weeks later, a package arrived via UPS. Ron said, "This package has to do with Brutus," but I had no idea what could be in the package, so I opened it. And found a red Pyrex bowl, an exact replacement for the bowl that broke (exact down to a few minor scratches on the inside). I couldn't believe it! He'd gone on eBay and searched for that red Pyrex bowl and found several! The one he got came from Canada.

I thought that was so sweet of him and kept telling him that, but he didn't think it was anything unusual. His point of view was that he broke something and he replaced it. "But that bowl was more than 20 years old!" I said. "It's not something you can just go get at WalMart." He still didn't (and doesn't) think he did anything special. But I disagree.

3 comments:

Barbara said...

Well, I can see his point--and that's part of why he is so special, that he does feel that way and acts on it.

And what a wonderful, sweet surprise for you. Those bowls will all mean even more to you now. And how cool that the new one is such a perfect match!

eBay is amazing. Before Christmas, I went to my friends' house and they were busy finding R's childhood Christmas tree topper on eBay. (They were decorating their tree that day and probably got into a discussion about their childhood ornaments and one of them said, "Let's look on eBay"--they both spend a lot of time (and sometimes money) on eBay.) They found it, but it was going for way too much money, and they didn't bid. I had never even thought of doing that.

The next day, I started looking on eBay for our childhood treetop star and found it--or so I thought. Turned out to be a smaller version, as I found out when the package arrived. The bigger one came up on a later search, but I wasn't able to win any auctions on the bigger one--maybe next year. The small one still lights up, but it didn't have the bracket for putting it on top of the tre, so we hung it in the front window at Mom's.

Anonymous said...

Love is knowing that you would be happier having the old set completed than having a new set. Love is knowing that the old set, with its history, is special to you.

Love to all,
Natasha

Elle said...

I agree..he did a wonderful thing. It is rare for another person to be able to know us so well that they act in a way that fills us up. The bowl was more than just a bowl and he gets you, even if he doesn't think it is a big deal. You are one lucky woman!