by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)
Aunt Marge’s pastel Lenox dinnerware. (Karen Telleen-Lawton)
Have you ever had the urge to pilfer a french fry while passing by someone’s table at a restaurant?
During my final year of my 50s, I jotted down things I wanted to try in my new decade, and this was one. From whimsical to serious self-improvement, they were all things I was ready to act upon or release.
The first one I acted upon was a resolution to enjoy and use beloved items instead of hoarding them. I began using Aunt Marge’s china the summer before my big birthday.
My folks had moved into a retirement place and we kids divvied up what they didn’t want. I had chosen decorative pastel Lenox dinnerware: lovely and very different from the practical brown with black-trimmed settings I’d used for nearly 40 years.
According to family lore, Aunt Marge’s fiancé had been gravely injured in World War I; the wedding never took place. The dinner set may have been an early wedding gift or a later consolation from her parents when she set up her single schoolteacher’s household.
It looked like it had barely been used in 75 years. One bowl has subsequently broken, but that’s a small price to pay for bringing her contemplative and cheerful life back into my thoughts.
Shortly after acquiring Aunt Marge’s dishes, I came across a notice about an upcoming class with UCSB and Presidio fencing coach Tim Robinson. I was immediately confident fencing belonged on my list. All fall I sparred with children, teens, and a few creaky-kneed seniors like myself.
When I fenced in college in the 1970s, I barely knew my knees and wrists existed. But years later, and a decade or two post knee and wrist surgery, I decided a few months of fencing were enough to satiate my desire.
It was scarcely a month after my last class that my long-buried desire to play a band instrument met a client who is a band director.
Jeff Peterson welcomed me into the Prime Time Band. In the ensuing year and a half, I’ve grown from a student with a rented instrument to a full-fledged band member (albeit last chair) playing my own used student sax.
Even on Tuesday evenings when I feel like curling up in bed with a book, the surround sound of band makes me appreciative of being at practice.
Curiously, it’s my serious rather than silly goals that I’ve been drawn to complete.
I did accomplish one whimsy: giving a $60 tip on my birthday dinner out. My husband brought me to a nice restaurant, where my generous tip was perhaps double or a bit more than a 20 percent tip would have been.
We peeked from the next room as the server pocketed the tip, but saw no reaction. I guess I should have gone to a fast-food place where the tip would have been a real windfall.
Well, right, and then I could have picked off a french fry from someone’s plate. Somehow, I haven’t been tempted by that one since I resolved to do it. Perhaps allowing myself this naughty indulgence has taken away its power.
I suppose this could also be said for trying marijuana, another item on my list. A few friends and family who are also weed virgins have said they might be willing to try it with me. But now that it’s legal, I’m a bit apathetic on this one.
Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.