A Special Gift

[tiredmommy]

I received a very special gift today from my mother in law: her mother in law's old roasting pan. It's one of those old blue & white speckled coated ones with a lid. It has dents, and needs a good soak & cleaning. It weighs a ton.
But I'm very touched. My husband's grandmother used this piece to prepare countless holiday & Sunday meals for her family. I commented to mother in law on Thanksgiving that I thought it was wonderful she had received it from her mother in law.
Then she told me the story.
Her mother in law's things were rummaged through and quickly divided up among her kids when she died, apparently there was a lot of grabbing for her jewelry, art, etc. All the valuables were snapped up quickly. But the things that defined the woman, the things she loved and used and cared for daily were over left.
My father in law saw the roasting pan, and knowing how much cooking & caring for her family mattered to his mother, brought it home to his wife. My mother in law said her mother in law would have really liked me and would have wanted me to have it.
I'm very grateful for my new roasting pan.
:its_all_good:

 

[Wiped Out]

TM,

What a great gift that you will treasure always. :smile:

 

[jannie]

:smile:What a touching story--Enjoy !!

 

[meowbunny]

Not fair ... I didn't expect to have tears in my eyes on the last post I read. What a wonderful gift.

 

[mrscatinthehat]

That is so awsome. It can be the little things that can mean soo much.

Beth

 

[timer lady]

Oh, TM .... I have my mother's old roasting pan - one exactly like you described.

There have been countless wonderful meals served out of Mom's roaster; countless memories to go along with those meals. :angel:

I hope you find joy & a sense of continuity; of family tradition as you use this cherished gift. :flower:

 

[donna723]

Those old pans lasted forever, so you can just imagine how many family meals were cooked in it. What memories! We had one exactly like that, but over the years it's fallen by the wayside, probably lost in a move.

I don't have the roasting pan, but I have a little dish that was my great-grandmothers, probably from the late 1800's. It's a small, very shallow, oval china dish with little flowers on it. It's too shallow for anything else, but it's perfect to hold one can of cranberry sauce. It was at all our holiday meals when I was a kid and my mother remembered it from when she was a child. It has seen every Thanksgiving in our family for well over 100 years! Some day I'll pass it along to my daughter!

 

[tiredmommy]

You wanna know the best part? Duckie asked me if it would someday go to her! :thumb:

 

[Lothlorien]

That's so nice. Very touching. I have several of my grandmother's kitchen things and even my stepmother's grandmother's things (her grandmother used to make homemade noodles for her chicken soup...awesome!). I cherish those items. Jewelry is nice, but you are right, that's not what defines them.

May you cook wonderful meals for your family, for many, many year with that roasting pan!

 

[WhymeMom?]

Beautiful story and what a wise man your father in law is/was for recognizing a true gift.....