Tempest in a Teapot
A couple of days ago I saw an absolutely incredible teapot on Etsy and shared the link with an online social group I’m involved in.
My friend Seana said, “Oh my god, Merlene likes teapots! Let’s all buy her teapots!”
She’d remembered a teapot story I’d told a couple of years ago.
Years ago when I was first setting up my home I splurged on a lovely artsy teapot I’d found in a local art shop. It was a gorgeous pottery pot with swirls of colour which really caught my eye. I fell in love with it as a piece of art more than as a fuctional teapot.
I mean, after all, anyone who knows me knows I don’t like tea.
My mother came for a visit and I enthusiastically showed her the teapot, knowing not what the result would be.
A couple of months later, for a Christmas gift, Mom sent me a teapot. This teapot was Mother Goose, the top of the pot being her head. Three weeks later I received a birthday gift from Mom, A big dog head teapot, the lid of this one was a hat on the dog’s head.
A few months later, Mother’s Day arrives. I received teapots from my Mother, my Mother-in-law who’s now convinced that I’m collecting teapots, and my husband.
For the next several years I received teapots for just about every gift giving occasion. I had pots that looked like Mrs. Potts’ from Beauty and the Beast, that looked like a chess set, like an antique sewing table, roosters, elephants, cats… dozens of teapots.
Another thing that you’d think anyone who knew me for more than 5 minutes would figure out is that I don’t like knickknacks, dust collectors, etc. I don’t have a china cabinet, curio cabinet or a display case of any sort.
The only thing I’ve ever voluntarily collected since I was a child was books. Yet here I was with dozens of teapots. Cutesy teapots. Cutesy teapots that were all rather pricey. Cutesy teapots which took up a LOT of shelf-space, cabinet space and required dusting.
I tried to drop hints (being the non-confrontational sort) that I might have enough teapots. Nope, still got more on every gift-giving occasion.
When I bought my house I had 5 boxes of just teapots!
So what happened to the teapots? Well a few years ago I had a house fire, I lost about 95% of the contents of my home including several of the teapots. But… 6 months later when I moved back into my newly rebuilt home… the restoration company arrived with boxes of my belongings that they were able to clean and salvage.
I opened the first box and there, on the very top, was the original teapot I’d bought, all those years ago. I dreaded opening another box. Turns out it was the only pot that survived.
I stressed to family that since I had to buy all new furniture, etc. I was going for a more minimalist sort of look. No more teapots. No knickknacks. No dust collectors.
So far. So good.
You know, I found this fabulous set of teapots on Craigslist yesterday and thought of you…
I had totally forgotten all the details of this story! Thanks for the laugh this morning, I needed it.
I know the feeling, I bought one of those cast iron Japanese teapots for myself, cute, but just big enough for a cup and half of tea, which I drink maybe 3 times a year.
I spent the better part of the next year disabusing my mother of the notion that I wanted to collect Japanese cast iron teapots. Every time we’d go out to a store she come show me some damned teapot and I had to tell her to “put it down!”
Why is it our Mothers are so set on cluttering up our lives?
I mean I adore my Mom, she’s awesome but you should see how many little china siamese cats she’s bought my sister over the years. It’s numbering well into the 100s now. Nothing anyone says or does stops her. She sees a siamese cat figurine and she just has to buy it!
I’ll have to find you the picture of me with a stack of toasters I got for Christmas one year. My family found it difficult to shop for the 6 month pregnant woman… I never collected anything and my mother knew this but she had no clue about how to take someone else’s taste into consideration when gift buying.. Unless you were very specific with a list and even when you were opening a gift from my mother was usually a WTF moment. Unless it was cash…cash was good. I once got a dress when I asked for work clothes I described it as a “85 year old black woman goes to church” dress all it was missing was the hat. It was a flattering shade of green for me but that was the only thing she got right.