On Saving Things

I have found so much joy in the kitchen lately, and it is due to my "new" cutting board. There are quotation marks around new because it's new, but it's not. I bought it around five months ago with a birthday gift card. I just started using it about three weeks ago.

Why? I was saving it. I do that with most of my new or nice things; do you? But here's the question, what exactly am I saving it for?

Yes, it's a beautiful cutting board with lovely graining, color, and details in the wood. But it's a cutting board. It was purchased with a given gift card. And, it is intended to use for cutting things!

For five months, it has been in my skinny cutting board cabinet with all of my other cutting boards that I actually use. It was tucked away, buried in the cabinet. I was saving it because I loved it and didn't want to mess it up, but wasn't it an even bigger travesty to not use it? Better to love it and use it than never mess it up and keep it tucked away forever, for fear of ruining it.

Here's the beauty: I actually love it even more now with the hundred little knife marks in it. It's rustically beautiful. I get to use it on a daily basis, and I enjoy it the entire time I'm using it. When I look at it or use it, it creates happiness. And, who doesn't need a little extra happiness in their day?

Life is a celebration. Let's treasure and celebrate each moment, even if that means messing up a perfectly good cutting board.