Day 39: Flatware

So last Thanksgiving my grandma had dinner on my cousin's boat, and was scandalized that he and his wife served the meal partially using plastic cutlery and paper plates because they own, like, two place settings: one for each of them. That was her version, I have not verified this with my cousin, but Gram did keep going on about it until one day she spotted this flatware set in the dumpster at her retirement community and pulled it out to give to Val, and for some reason she gave it to me to give to him even though I only ever see him on major holidays. It's fuzzy, maybe he was coming over to my house for some reason.

A note on the dumpster at my grandmother's retirement community: this receptacle has done well by our entire family. I always checked it whenever I visited Gram because people were always moving out of there, to nursing homes or whatever, and their families generally dumped all kinds of perfectly useful stuff. We never understood why they didn't donate it; they don't even put things next to the dumpster for people to take, it all just gets heaved in there. Anyway, I have scored tons of great items from there, including duckpin bowling balls, cool old board games, and vintage clothing. My family goes more for useful items and has recovered dishware, lamps, an ironing board, small appliances, and even a miraculously unbroken full length mirror.

When Gram died in March, my Mom had 30 days to clean out her apartment. I promise that not one item that was not actually garbage went into the dumpster. It's probably a good thing, Impedimenta-wise, that I no longer have regular contact with the Dumpster of Endless Bounty.