Window Words | A Column of Reflection, Insight & Hope | From the Oct. 31/Nov. 1 Weekly Messenger

Tea Pitcher

Deborah and I have an old pottery iced tea pitcher we picked up a long time ago at some antique store. Antiquing used to be recreation. Sometime in the late ’80s, we quit antiquing and started motorcycling. I like it a lot better. As far as the old pottery pitcher is concerned though, we never have used it for iced tea. In fact I’m not sure we have used it for water, Kool-Aid, milk or anything. For a long time we just had it. It sat on a shelf in a closed cupboard. We forgot it was even there. We have moved in and out of several homes over the years and somehow that old pitcher made the cut of what we packed up from what we sold or gave away. One day we discovered its purpose.

Several years ago we decided to do something with the change we had in our pockets, or in the case of Deborah, in her purse, at the end of each day. It went into the old pitcher. Three years ago we decided to add to the pitcher any single dollar bills we had at the end of the day so that the next day we would only begin to spend with a five-dollar bill or higher. Two years ago we began to put all of the extra income we received from weddings, for instance, or gifts into the pitcher. Every so often we have fun counting the pitcher money and making a surprising deposit into a special fund. At the same time we made a decision to only use cash and not to buy anything by credit card. The collection in the iced tea pitcher has been designated for holiday or vacation time away. Where we go, how far we go, and how long we are away all depend on what the old pottery pitcher has collected. We have discovered that it is always just ENOUGH for what we really need.

From My Window — STL