How Glassware Retains Memories

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I broke one of my beer glasses tonight. I have many that I’ve gotten over the years that remind me of places I visited. I don’t take buying souvenirs lightly: there are places I visited that didn’t have a suitable souvenir glass for me to buy, so I bought nothing. I would rather have a good memory and have a cheesy bit of merchandise to prove I was there. I love Rome, and I bought a stunningly beautiful shot glass at the Vatican, but I couldn’t find a beer glass that was appropriate.

The glass I broke was purchased in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at a food truck park. My wife and I am at my brother, and he suggested this place that not only had amazing food, but an impromptu beer garden. Whenever I see the glass, I remember that day. Now, I feel like a part of me is gone.

I could go on about other beer glasses that have been broken, I’m not sure why they have this kind of importance to me. Maybe I just like the idea of reliving a good memory. I still have other glasses, and other memories, but I will be extra careful with them.

I already sequester them away from the general population. I have had beer glasses broken by other people, and I don’t want to get mad at anybody, so I am moving that chance.

Am I the only one, or do some of you have other objects that you retain because they remind you of something fun or important?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

My husband and I have some special glasses that we purchased in Stockholm on our honeymoon 25 years ago. I can distinctly remember buying them, and thinking to myself how on earth was I going to get them home in one piece. They were not cheap. Made from recycled glass and special to us. They only come out to be used for special occasions because of my grip issues on my left hand (I can only tell I'm holding something, not how hard or well I'm holding it.) The rest of the time they are on display. We get to set them and I don't have to worry about breaking them.

We also have some every glasses. They've been with us longer than I can really remember. I know I lifted them from my parents home when I left for university and moved into unfinished quarters with my now husband. They have special memories because they are Jacobian glass made at the end of WWII (during and end of) only and the imprint on the bottom tells you which year. I was saddened two year or so back when I dropped one whilst in the kitchen. I was in bare feet at the time and it shattered everywhere into thousands of pieces!

Old Jacobean Glasses

• SatNavSaysStraightOn
• 17 Dec 2019
• 5

I'll try to get a picture of the set of our honeymoon treat to ourselves glasses, but this below is one of them.

They come in various colours (pink, blue, yellow, green, purple). We bought 6. It was all we could afford at the time.



But they have special memories. I'd hate to see one broken.

 

[Morning Glory]

Maybe I'm unusual, but I'm totally unsentimental about glasses or indeed any other objects. There are things I like but that's purely aesthetic and I'm certainly not going to shed any tears if they get broken. When I left a previous long term relationship I took nothing with me at all except for clothes. I had extensive collections of antique glassware, Clarice Cliff pottery - all manner of stuff. Did I miss any of that stuff? Not at all!

 

[TastyReuben]

I don't really, no. I certainly have things I like, and I'd be temporarily irritated if they broke or went missing, but not for long.

I'm probably more concerned about difficulty in replacing, more than anything else. We had six standard British wine glasses, the kind you see in pubs everywhere, sort of short and squatty, with an almost medieval shape. I really like those.

I say "had," because three have been broken...two by the same person on the same night!

That was irritating because where I ordered them from stopped carrying them, and at the time, anyway, I couldn't find them anywhere else online.

And then there were three...but it does give me something to buy next time we're over there, so there's always that to look forward to.

My wife is the opposite - she has tons of mugs from everywhere and can't bear to part with them, and she gets very upset should one break.

 

[Morning Glory]

We had six standard British wine glasses, the kind you see in pubs everywhere, sort of short and squatty, with an almost medieval shape. I really like those.

You might be hard pushed to find them these days - wine glasses seem to have become huge here both in pubs and elsewhere. Post a photo with something to 'size' it by so I know what you mean.

 

[TastyReuben]

You might be hard pushed to find them these days - wine glasses seem to have become huge here both in pubs and elsewhere. Post a photo with something to 'size' it by so I know what you mean.

It's these, alongside a Nonic (also from the UK and ordered online):

 

[Morning Glory]

It's these, alongside a Nonic (also from the UK and ordered online):

View attachment 78250

Sort of what I thought you meant. Your best bet to find them is charity shops these days. I did find these on line and super cheap!

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

The glass that holds memories for me is my classic Aloha Shoyu dispenser brought with us when we left Hawaii.

A number of years ago, I was going to get the Shoyu down for the dinner table and I dropped it!
It shattered into a million pieces and so did I.
This style of dispenser is no longer made.
This is what it looks like now ...

The label is now just a plastic sleeve shrink wrapped onto the outside of the bottle.
Fortunately, not long after I break my one and only original designed dispenser, we flew back home for a visit.
My Brother-in-law's niece worked at a local restaurant that still had plenty of them. "Here Auntie, I give some."
She gave me three!
I have them stashed away in far reaches of the cupboard, where they're safe and continue to use this new styled one. instead.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I´m not materialist, so I´m not particularly attached to any glass, dish, plate or other utensil.
I do have some Bohemian crystal whisky tumblers I´m very fond of, however. They just seem to make the scotch taste better.

 

[TastyReuben]

Sort of what I thought you meant. Your best bet to find them is charity shops these days. I did find these on line and super cheap!

View attachment 78251

Sadly, not available here, but they have something close:

 

[rascal]

It's these, alongside a Nonic (also from the UK and ordered online):

View attachment 78250

I drink from the same as the one on the right every night. I acquired 4 of them about 15 years ago from a working mens club that went broke. Kind of a keep sake. They are pretty hardy. Still have them all.

Russ

 

[madebyyouandi]

Funny you should bring this up, I just chipped a coffee mug that a dear friend gave 20 years ago. I was crushed. I went online and found a duplicate and now I'm wondering if I should keep the chipped mug, replace it, or both.

 

[Morning Glory]

Sadly, not available here, but they have something close:

View attachment 78257

Look at the capacity - the gin glass is much larger. The wine glasses are much smaller.

 

[TastyReuben]

Look at the capacity - the gin glass is much larger. The wine glasses are much smaller.

Yep, I just meant the bowl shape. Stem is much thinner as well.

 

[caseydog]

I broke one of my beer glasses tonight. I have many that I’ve gotten over the years that remind me of places I visited.

Am I the only one, or do some of you have other objects that you retain because they remind you of something fun or important?

Not glassware, but I do have many media passes from car events/races that I've been to. I keep a lot of them hanging on curtain rod in my office. All of those lanyards in the photo below have credential "badges" attached to them.

CD