Replacing the Old With the New

Eight years ago, I picked out some dishes.

They were a classic style–a solid white center with wide cinnamon edges from Crate & Barrel.

They, like a lot of the things I buy, reflect little bits of me. Practical, but warm. And hopefully versatile.

I imagined eating off these dishes our entire lives.

One thing my imagination didn’t take into account, though, is how the dishes would chip and crack, maybe even be dropped on ceramic tile to their demise. How they would whittle themselves down from a lofty set of 12–big enough to feed a lot of family and friends–to smaller sets of seven or nine, depending on whether not the meal required salad bowls.

So recently I decided it was time for these cinnamon relics to be replaced.

I replaced them with solid red dishes. They were less expensive but just as sturdy, and of a darker hue that I like even more than it’s cinnamon-y ancestors. They are more readily available and will likely be easier and less expensive to replace or match as they chip. And I love the way they look on my table.

Love them so much in fact that it makes me wonder why I waited this long to make the switch. And it also has me thinking, what else in my life is it time to replace or improve upon? What traditions, habits, or philosophies no longer serve their purpose well and can be switched out for something more satisfying or less costly?