Getting The Diamond

I like traditions -- a lot of the things in life that are truly meaningful are traditions. Think of Christmas, and other special occasions. Memories are made of this stuff.

When my grandparents decided to down size a few years back, they allowed us to come into their homes and pick through whatever we wanted. It was funny to see what each of the grand-kids picked -- not the Doultons or the good dishes but the simple, every day things that we used at Grandma and Grandpa's. Things that brought back memories of sweet times with them.

One of the silly traditions that we used to do at my Grandma's was at dinner time. We would all sit down, say grace for the meal and immediately all the kids would pick up their knife and shake it. We were checking to see if we "got the diamond." One of Grandma's table knives had a small piece of metal inside the knife handle that would rattle when we shook it. Somewhere in our family history somebody mentioned it was a diamond....and since that day, it was good luck if you sat down and got the diamond.

When Grandma asked us what we wanted, one of the things I chose was her silverware -- not the good silver at all. The everyday stuff that had the knife with the diamond.

This week we had company for dinner. It was the second time these friends had been over for dinner since I acquired Grandma's silverware. I laughed aloud when, on Tuesday night, they came in, sat down for dinner, looked down at their plates and both of their kids immediately picked up their knives and gave them a shake.

The simple things in life are the most pleasing, wouldn't you say? When it comes down to it, the day in-day out stuff is where we really make our memories. My Grandma's household tradition lives on in my house and it makes me smile to think about it -- I think she'd be pleased.