breaking dishes

we break all of the good china
in this house, because our "good plates"
are the ones we dine on every night.
tomorrow is not promised.

i get mad at you when you break them.
but you are a master at mixing flavors,
not mindful of the cost of dinner plates
that are more expensive than they should be.

we pull the covers off of autographed copies
of books I've held dear for decades,
we write on the walls with crayon, marker and pen.
we do not live life lightly.

there are days that I cry about the loss
of material things, because I was taught
to take care of the nice china.
but my parents kept it in a cabinet, gathering dust.

we choose to serve food on it everyday,
relishing in the garlic, turmeric and red pepper flakes
that season your latest creation.
and that is the difference
between our generations.

we know the future doesn't hold promise,
and live as if tomorrow will not come,
even though we're preparing our children
to be the brightest future we've ever had.

you were optimistic about the future
enough that you could afford a second set
of plates that were for looking
and not touching.