it’s over. my relationship with my favorite bowl ended this morning in 5 big and a thousand tiny pieces. this was no ordinary bowl, it was big but not overweight, rather defined, sleek and strong. No one else used it, not the wife, not friends, not even if it was the perfect size for the task, it was all mine. It could handle cereal in the morning, salad at lunch and a dinner of noodles all with style. You could take it somewhere fancy like the dining room table filled with rich red sauce and shimmery noodles. It was just at home sitting on my desk filled with colorful fruity pebbles or on the couch relaxing with a beer and salsa.
7 years of meals shattered this morning like an ordinary glass. Pieces fragmented over the entire stone kitchen floor. Under the table and even into the living room. It’s like the relationship exploded.
The other bowls just can’t hold their own against my favorite bowl. Now it’s 2-3 trips back and forth to get food. fill the bowl, pour the milk, take 5 bites and repeat and repeat.
I know I’ll get over this, as I got over my previous favorite bowl even though the shard of glass is still in my foot causing me pain. Pain as I think about all the meals together, the memories. I need to go remove the last lingering piece of this relationship and face the first breakfast with out my bowl
it’s over. my relationship with my favorite bowl ended this morning in 5 big and a thousand tiny pieces. this was no ordinary bowl, it was big but not overweight, rather defined, sleek and strong. No one else used it, not the wife, not friends, not even if it was the perfect size for the task, it was all mine. It could handle cereal in the morning, salad at lunch and a dinner of noodles all with style. You could take it somewhere fancy like the dining room table filled with rich red sauce and shimmery noodles. It was just at home sitting on my desk filled with colorful fruity pebbles or on the couch relaxing with a beer and salsa.
7 years of meals shattered this morning like an ordinary glass. Pieces fragmented over the entire stone kitchen floor. Under the table and even into the living room. It’s like the relationship exploded.
The other bowls just can’t hold their own against my favorite bowl. Now it’s 2-3 trips back and forth to get food. fill the bowl, pour the milk, take 5 bites and repeat and repeat.
I know I’ll get over this, as I got over my previous favorite bowl even though the shard of glass is still in my foot causing me pain. Pain as I think about all the meals together, the memories. I need to go remove the last lingering piece of this relationship and face the first breakfast with out my bowl
Sorry for your loss man…there will maybe one day be another bowl, you will however always have the memory of your departed bowl. (at least part of it did not end up in your foot eh?)
I once had a spoon with a handle clad in Bakelite that was superb.
Sadly, the Bakelite somehow broke off. But I saved its skeletal remains and continue to use it. It fits my big mouth.
If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it must be made of rubber.
I have one of those big bottomed old style travel mugs, the kind that are made to set on the dash or the “####” in your car. It is from before every vehicle had umpteen cup holders. I took it into a starbucks one day (Tom D’s starbucks to be exact) and the girl working the counter wanted to know where I got the “cool mug” she had never seen anything like it. If I break it I will have to haunt antique stores to replace it. I hate the ones that fit the cupholders because you have to drink out of that little hole in the lid. No lid no spill for this cup.
I sympathize with you for the loss of your bowl, but offer the following:
BODHIDHARMA left his robe and bowl to his chosen successor; and each patriarch thereafter handed it down to the monk that, in his wisdom, he had chosen as the next successor. Gunin was the fifth such Zen patriarch. One day he announced that his successor would be he who wrote the best verse expressing the truth of their sect. The learned chief monk of Gunin’s monastery thereupon took brush and ink, and wrote in elegant characters:
The body is a Bodhi-tree
The soul a shining mirror:
Polish it with study
Or dust will dull the image.
No other monk dared compete with the chief monk. But at twilight Yeno, a lowly disciple who had been working in the kitchen, passed through the hall where the poem was hanging. Having read it, he picked up a brush that was lying nearby, and below the other poem he wrote in his crude hand:
Bodhi is not a tree;
There is no shining mirror.
Since All begins with Nothing
Where can dust collect?
Later that night Gunin, the fifth patriarch, called Yeno to his room. “I have read your poem,” said he, “and have chosen you as my successor. Here: take my robe and my bowl. But our chief monk and the others will be jealous of you and may do you harm. Therefore I want you to leave the monastery tohight, while the others are asleep.”
In the morning the chief monk learned the news, and immediately rushed out, following the path Yeno had taken. At midday he
overtook him, and without a word tried to pull the robe and bowl out of Yeno’s hands.
Yeno put down the robe and the bowl on a rock by the path. “These are only things which are symbols,” he said to the monk. “If you want the things so much, please take them.”
The monk eagerly reached down and seized the objects. But he could not budge them. They had become heavy as a mountain.
“Forgive me,” he said at last, “I really want the teaching, not the things. Will you teach me?”
Yeno replied, “Stop thinking this is mine and stop thinking this is not mine. Then tell me, where are you? Tell me also: what did
your face look like, before your parents were born?”
DD,
I am amazed at your post. In 1992, a close friend’s mother owned a pottery shop in NYC and I bought a very nice ceramic bowl that is more decorative than functional, as it is quite large. I love this bowl. I can fit a full 1/2 box of cereal in it for breakfast or even 5 packets of quaker instant oatmeal. It is a great pasta and freshly steamed veggies bowl and it is unsurpassed as a pint of ben and jerry’s delivery device. I personally wash this bowl every day and I have thought on many occasions that I would be very sad if this bowl breaks. My family would not understand (and one of my kids is the most likely one to do the breaking) but I hear you loud and clear. Go find yourself a NICE new bowl and make a new friend. Peace out.
Now all you have to do is hope that his wife is not one of them 'fridge magnet collectors…
Soory for your loss! I see that you are broke up about this… this really has boweled you over! There are support groups for this… I am sure Dr.Phil has a book on this… don’t let this crack you up… you are bigger than this.
Does this make you a “cereal killer”?
Sounds like love… remember a word from the wise:
"Love is like falling down steps… If you do it enough… your bound to break something!
Shawn
i too feel your pain. my favorite bowl was actually of the mixing variety … it had a handle and a pour spout, but was very deep, almost mug shaped … far to big to be used to measure anything other than how much i was eating … great for half a box of pasta or anything else that i chose to eat in huge quantities, and the handle meant that i could carry around hot food and not burn my hands … it was awesome. i had two, one broke in a regretable kitchen incident, the other … well, i failed to retain it post-divorce (along with my shop vac and lawn furniture) … sniff …
I am truly sorry for your loss. In time, these wounds will heal and you will find another container from which to eat. Not a replacement, for what could ever take the place of one’s first love? No… not a replacement. But a new container will one day be your #1.
I’ve heard from reading gRAAM reports that those plastic ice buckets that motels have can serve quite well for holding food. Perhaps until you are fully able to trransition to a new bowl, this may help you bridge the gap.
Okay, I just spent six hours debugging something that was not a bug(the joy of financial software development is that even the experts aren’t always sure what’s right), and my brain is fried. So I thought I’d help with the quest for the new bowl.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13001901&RN=554&KSKU=104476 This one is nice. Available in other colors. (check out red!)
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=12849478&RN=502&KSKU=104252 This one is expensive, but a great bowl. I have one of these.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=12753772&RN=555&KSKU=103564 In case you’re feeling festive!
Try those out for starters and see if they work for you. You can always just replace your bowl with a nice pint glass. Mmmmmm, Guinness! It’s like a bowl of cereal in every glass.
LOL.
I love you guys. I even have several PM’s offering to send me bowls and offering kind words for my loss. My co-worker, when told of my loss over the phone said I was pathetic. she’s even see the bowl.
Jeff thanks for the links, I like the 8in’r. I just need to shop around and find the bowl that speaks to me in a way only I hear.
Love that orange one…
Oops, I accidently broke my Felt DA (the 04 version with dura-ace 10, vision aerobars, and zipp wheels.) I’m so sad.