If you use something, it’s going to break. Accidents happen in life.
A year and a half ago I bought a random, mismatched set of old dishes online from a buy/sell group. After bringing home my new treasures, I carefully unwrapped each piece from the old newspaper pages.
The Tale of the Teacup
One of the dishes was a lone teacup that matched no other dishes. It was the most beautiful teacup I have ever seen.
It was a simple, gentle white with a small green rim with gold trim and delicate flowers painted around parts of the rim. The colors of the flowers were my favorite colors. They faded into each other in the most endearing way. The handle of the cup had a beautifully simple gold line on it that was a little worn away.
Besides the beauty of the art on the outside of the cup, I loved the feel of the cup. It was an extremely smooth texture, as light as a feather, and the rim of the cup was incredibly tiny. It felt so good in my hand and against my lips.
I immediately adopted this cup to be my new go-to coffee cup each day. I like a small cup of coffee, and it just so happened this cup was the perfect size for my Nespresso cup of coffee, with the perfect amount of heavy cream, honey, and sugar.
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For a year and a half I used this precious cup to drink coffee out of twice a day. I enjoyed each drink more because of the beauty and comfort of this cup.
I prepared myself that this cup would break one day. I used it too much, and it was much too delicate for something not to accidentally happen at some point. I have four children, two big dogs, and a cat, so there was plenty of room for something to go wrong anytime I was using that cup.
Although I knew using it meant it would break one day, I decided to use it — and use it a lot. I have learned that I would rather use and enjoy what I have than wait for the “perfect” time to use it.
Well, a couple weeks ago, when my kids and animals were nowhere near me, I opened the tall cabinet and pulled out my treasured cup and placed it gently on my kitchen counter. I then went back inside a lower portion of that cabinet to get some sugar out, and I accidentally tapped a small glass jar of cinnamon that proceeded to fall out of the cabinet and onto my teacup, breaking it.
My husband was near and was so sympathetic and sad for me, knowing how deeply I care for that cup. He hurriedly checked to see if I was emotionally okay. Interestingly, I was perfectly fine.
Of course, I wish that my cup hadn’t broken. Of course, I would have saved it if I could have. BUT I got to enjoy drinking from that little cup well over a thousand times and it was a blessing to me each of those times.
Life is just never going to be without accidents, even when my kids move out. I would rather enjoy things now and accept they won’t last forever or give them away for others to enjoy.
Accidents Happen
One of my favorite items I ever owned was a gorgeous hanging lantern I bought the first time I visited an ancient market in Damascus, Syria. It was surrounded with glass beads that were mainly an array of purples, with accents of pinks, reds, and blues. It was stunning but also represented a time and place very special to me.
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I brought that glass lamp from Damascus to Lebanon and from Lebanon to the United States. It survived five moves within Texas.
But one day my five-year-old daughter was throwing a pillow in our living room and somehow accidentally hit that sweet lantern hard enough to knock it off its wall hanger and it shattered across our floor.
That was five years ago, and I was not as used to losing special things as I am now, so this one was a hard loss. 
And really, what would have been the point of having it packed away in our attic waiting for the day no accidents could happen? It could have gotten broken up there too while no one was even enjoying it.
Largely due to having a home full of children (AND LOVE!) many items I liked have been victims to accidents over the years. I try to put away things I feel I’m not okay with losing, but for the most part I keep stuff around me that I love. I’ve dealt with the fact NOTHING will last forever.
The truth is, even our most precious possessions will break on accident, or get lost, or lose their value to us. Plus, we don’t get to take anything with us when we go.
So I say, use the teacup, enjoy the lantern.
If a cup breaks, you can have fun finding a new special teacup. Since mine broke I started using another cup and have enjoyed it.
My beautiful lantern is shattered, but that just means I have room for another treasure. Maybe I can dream of another trip to Damascus to buy another beautiful lantern one day.
