A Genetic Disorder

My very first tea cup

It starts out with a simple tea cup.  A seemingly benign purchase.  A pretty china cup and saucer picked out amongst all the many delightful cups and saucers on display in the china department in the big, beautiful department store in Vancouver, B.C..  The young girl and her sisters, led by their mother, select their pretty little vessels for purchase and therein begins the disorder.  It's called Dishitis. It is a genetic disorder passed on in my family through the maternal side.  We all have it and it's terminal and we will never be cured.

One shelf of my china cabinet

I was visiting my mother not long ago and we had a discussion about this infliction.  I suppose there are far worse burdens to bear.  But there is no more room in our china cabinets. Our dish cupboards runneth over. Another piece of glassware or vase will be the straw that broke the camels' back. 

Some of my glassware

But there is always that "Just one more" moment when a dessert plate beckons with a pattern you've never seen before or that adorable egg cup shaped like a cute little chick peeps out your name.  It's like a drug.  You can't resist. There is always room for one more item.  The Husband jokingly says when I die he will be selling my dishes for 25 cents a plate.  It would seem he doesn't appreciate the seriousness of Dishitis and the inability of the women in my family to resist adding to our collections.

My mother's good china (inherited from her mother)

I have included just a small sampling of the collections of my mother and I.  Mind you, she has a very large family, what with her own five children, our spouses, six grandchildren and their various spouses, and three great granddaughters.  One needs a pile of plates to serve that brood.  I, on the other hand, have only myself and The Husband to feed.  Why do I need 10 place settings of everyday dishes and 8 place settings of china, and countless glasses, many teacups, etc, etc?  Because I love them.  Every last piece.

My mother's Blue Onion china (she has 3 other complete sets of dishes)

Both of my sisters have been stricken with this genetic disorder.  They too have cupboards and cabinets full of lovely dishes that they have obtained as wedding gifts, inheritances, and their own purchases.  I know if I asked them if they could part with any of it, they would be hard pressed to say yes.  Time will tell if this dish curse passes on to their daughters and granddaughters.  If it does, I know to whom I can leave my treasures!!

So now the world knows about our family disorder. I will no longer live in shame and I will hold my head up high the next time I walk out of the antique or collectors store with my newly purchased tea cup.