Shards of Glass

Isn’t it interesting when even the tiniest of life events can lead to an examination of our mortality?

For example, the other night, I placed the very hot cover of a CorningWare baking dish in the sink and unconsciously ran cold water over it before it had a chance to cool. Of course, it disintegrated. The explosion was loud and dramatic; hundreds of large and small shards of glass were created instantaneously. One big triangular piece went down the garbage disposal.

I knew better than to have this happen. But it did. Luckily, I was able to avoid cutting myself while cleaning up the mess.

This piece of CorningWare and I go way back. I got married in 1968 and, as I recall, this was among our original collection of kitchenware. We were divorced in 1978 and this dish was included in my share of the division of goods. So, all told, I’ve been carting this thing around for nearly a half-century.

That’s a long relationship and it ended surprisingly abruptly. Boom.

Which got me thinking, again, about how rapidly things in life can change. The most mundane day can turn, in the blink of an eye, into one of disaster, injury, loss, diagnosis or death. Boom.

Let’s make the most of the time we have left. OK?