MISMATCH

Our cutlery drawer has a variety of styles and patterns.

At least twice I've gotten new, matching sets but somehow the 'camp' stuff and the new stuff and 'where-did-THAT-come-from' stuff get mixed all together and the SETS are no where to be found - not anywhere!

I never have been able to figure out where these things go.  (Maybe the spoons jilted the dishes and ran away with the socks and mittens because those always seem to have plenty of mismatched miss-mates also.)

NO PROBLEM though.
Sometimes I even like it that way.

In some ways families can be 'mismatched' too.

That is OK.  None of us is exactly the same as any other, and if we start out similar after a while one of us gets worn or bent a bit differently.

I really love the left fork of these three. It is narrow enough, and the tines are short enough, that it fits in my mouth, and it is pointy enough to actually able to be poked into a bite of food without excessive force.

Which fork do you think my husband picks when he sets the table?

 How did you guess?

He prefers the llloooonnngg blunt thing on the right that has such blocky tines that it has to be hammered into your food and is so heavy that it easily smashes anything you are eating into submission - if you can lift it.  I don't much like smashed food. And having it almost as long as my fore-arm means it is awkward for me to manipulate.

Knives are the same way
but I don't have to use them
to put food in my mouth.

I do cut things into
pieces with them.

Can you guess which
table knife I prefer?

I like a balanced handle
with enough weight to
give my chop or cut some
oommphh, but not a lot of
blade - I do have short arms.

Spoons are a category all to themselves.  Bowls on spoons must have almost as many configurations as there are silverware patterns: flat, deep, round, wide, shallow, pointy - and I haven't even talked about the curves or handles yet!

How do you use your spoon?

Does it irritate or appease you every time you lift it to you mouth? When it contains food will it fit into your mouth - no silly - not all of it, but at least the tip or side of it? Will it hold soup? or fruit juice? and can it dig frozen yogurt? (that you only intended to get really cold but left in the freezer for 2 days).

 A spoon should be able to scoop and pour but when I lick it I don't want it to be so deep that my tongue needs to be used like a spatula - maybe I have a short tongue too - how would one know? Surely you have eaten with such spoons too.

And now I will start about handles. It should not be so pointy that a child can hurt them self during dinner. It should not be so heavy that a lady can't graceful lift it or so ornate that highly trained servants are required to keep it clean.

Thankfully people are as unique as utensils. When I set the table I put 'my' utensils by my plate and 'his' utensils by his plate - and we enjoy our dinner.  There are only the two of us. Our nest is empty - usually!  But if I invite you over you may have to suffer the punishment of cutlery that does not match - either you or itself.

If you would prefer a different piece just let me know.
The drawer has lots of choices.

And so does our family.
We have lots of opinions.
Opinions come in all sizes and shapes.
Some are preferred by one and some by another.

Isn't it nice to enjoy being a family anyway?

But someday, SOME day, I wish to own perfect flatware,
and have no mismatched miss-mates.

Such a thing exists in my mind: not too large or small, not too wide or narrow, not too deep or shallow, not too long or short, not too heavy or too light, not too ornate or simple, and definitely not too expensive - is that too much to ask?

And we BOTH have to like it!
If I am wishing I might as well wish good!

Since I am wishing I think I will wish for family unity too.
A family that enjoys being together.

And we all will like it!

That is not too much to wish for ...
or pray for.