“She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion.”

He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician.

I don’t know the author of the short story this quotation was taken from, but I remember reading it to the rest of the year group in 2004 whilst doing my master’s degree.  My friend Jilli had brought her extensive collection of costume jewellery, and we were all wearing it. Sparkling in diamante, we all vowed to celebrate the everyday and not to keep things ‘for best’.  

I visited my mother’s home over Christmas. She was coming to stay and I asked her to bring the stole I bought her as I had never seen her wear it.  After years of telling me she was keeping it for a special occasion, she now couldn’t remember receiving it and didn’t know where it was.

As I start the year with my usual annual declutter and list of small changes I would like to make, I am struck by how much I, too, have safeguarded for feast days.  

Cupboards full of beautiful plates, some collected and some inherited. Dishes that have rarely been used or seen daylight, let alone candlelight.

Candles that haven’t been burned and have now almost lost their scent.

Wardrobes full of clothes when I live, mostly, in wellington boots and my comfortable, and somewhat threadbare, foraging jumper.

Peaches turning to vinegar as I have missed them at their peak.

I will use them, someday.

But I would need a month of somedays to enjoy those things I’ve put by for the right occasion.

Maybe the right occasion is now.

After the last two years of being on the precipice of uncertainty, and feeling my confidence slowly disappear as a result, I have inadvertently lowered my standards for making the everyday a special day.

As another year passes, I am reminded that every day we are blessed to be here on earth is surely special occasion enough.

So, let’s decorate ourselves with sequins.

Wear our best perfume.

Adorn ourselves in our most beautiful clothes.  

Bring out our fancy plates.

And enjoy the juicy peaches at their peak.