This past year we bid farewell to the last remaining blue mug in the sets of dishes we received for our wedding. I don’t recall how many sets of the blue ceramic dish sets we received, but I remember them fondly.
Last month we celebrated our 16th anniversary so the dish sets lived a good life, participating in many family celebrations as well as our daily meals.
Some of our other gifts are still with us, some of the fancier items that only get pulled out once or twice a year for holidays, but we’ve gone through many sets of glasses since those early days.
The time we selected items for our bridal registry feels like sooooo long ago, that time of envisioning what our lives would look like – and how our table settings would look.
Bridal checklist to adorn your new nest
Embarking on a journey to a new reality
Anticipation for a new beginning
All the while spinning toward your new destiny
About six years ago, while emptying the dishwasher, I noticed how many of our plates were chipped and how we had several mismatched glasses. At the time our children were very young and we were on a tight budget so replacing our table settings wasn’t exactly at the top of our list of priorities.
Mismatched glasses, place settings on the table
We talk about replacing them someday when we are able
Years ago they were all so shiny and new
In our earlier days when they made their debut
Although things like perfect table settings might seem important at certain times in your life, at some point most people realize that the true value comes from the relationships you surround yourself with, and when the marriage lasts longer than the wedding dishes, that’s a good thing.
‘Cause glass shatters, you learn what matters
You pick up the fragments and sometimes you bleed
Crystal crashes, hits the floor and smashes
Indulge in expectations, but there are no guarantees
In the end, it doesn’t matter if your drinking glasses don’t match, what matters is who you’re drinking with.
Mismatched glasses, place settings on the table
Appreciate the moments as long as you are able
Years from now things may not be shiny and new
But you’ll have other treasures shining ’round you.
The song that the dishwasher emptying inspired is “Glass Shatters.” Looking back on it, the songwriting errors stand out – I use the same chords and strumming throughout the whole song, I tried switching between present-past-future tenses in a way I’m not sure works and I’m sure there are many others.
However, it is the song that has received the most plays on my Soundcloud account. (Today it’s at 961 listens which is significantly more than any of my other songs. I realized early on that it was likely because it has the same name as another song, which has more than 200,000 listens, but it is still fun to see such a large number of listens on one of my songs.)
My Songwriting Journey 