Well unfortunately, one day a few weeks ago, it was my son, who was carefully putting the lid back on the dish, when the base of it shattered. Poor little guy, he had already fallen in love with this dish, as much as my husband had, when he was a child. You see this dish has a unique story. This is no ordinary candy dish, this is a family heirloom full of cherished memories.
My husband, Kyle inherited this dish from his grandmother, Freda's collection of ruby red glass. And it may seem odd for a grandson to inherit a red glass dish, but this one held a special memory. Kyle fondly remembers his grandmother storing candies in this jar and sharing them with him, particularly Andes mint candies. And what Kyle loved was that he was already getting to share this treasured memory of his grandmother with his son. So when I had to break the news to him that the base of it shattered, Kyle tried to stay in Zen mode of thought and say it was okay, "Sarah, it is just a dish, its silly, I can't take it with me". I knew at that moment, that he was okay with the fact that things unfortunately happen, and that we can't preserve things forever, but that this dish was special and it needed to be replaced. Deep down, I also knew the pain of losing your grandparents and trying to hold on to every dear memory you have of them (and often it is linked to an object). For me, I felt like when this dish broke, it was also the fear of forgetting the memory.
So I set forth on this mission, I searched on Etsy and eBay and quickly discovered exactly what style of dish I was in pursuit of: Viking Red Georgian Candy/Compote Dish 7.5". And I found two of them on eBay, one which was in auction and one that was available as a "buy it now". I decided to try the auction first, and I was doing great, until we had to embark on a journey to the hardware store. During our shopping trip, I kept checking my phone to see how my bidding was going, and wouldn't you know the person bidding against me, purposely waited, as so many eBaying evil bidders do, outbid me in the last 2 seconds. I resolved to just go ahead and order the other buy it now option. The dish arrived, and I was ecstatic as it matched exactly.
There was just one wee itty bitty problem. I was trying to be sneaky about this whole thing, hoping to make it the perfect Father's Day gift from our son. The dish needed to be cleaned up, just a simple wash. And that is when it happened, I was washing the dish, when it slipped and fell into the sink (not a huge fall), but enough that I thought "Oh NO!". At first, I thought I was in luck, as it was still in tact, but then I ran my hand across the dish and discovered it now had a nice crack running in a "U" shape. I also discovered I now had a nice cut on my finger from the crack too! So yes, the dish was still in tact, but it would not serve as the replacement or the Father's Day gift I had dreamed of making happen.
When Kyle came home that morning, shortly after this incident happened, he knew something was wrong simply by my facial expression and my body language. And there I was a sobbing mess, telling him about the prized present now ruined, and he simplified the entire thing by saying, "That is the most thoughtful gift, and it is okay, because everyday for him is Father's Day". He was thrilled that I was able to even find one that was the same, because he really thought it would be impossible to find one exactly like it. And now this cracked ruby red candy dish, has just grown even more memories for our family that we will cherish for many years to come.
My mission to find this type of dish continues. In fact, I now have several people keeping their eyes on the hunt for me. In the meantime, we have decided that we may just end up with a mini collection of varying styles of ruby red candy dishes.
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