This post was originally published on October 29, 2019.
(Even though it may seem seasonally out of place, I think the deeper sentiment is always in season 😀)
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There was one Thanksgiving when I made a full on dinner for 12 Brits. I used every receptacle we had in our matchbox sized kitchen. Nothing matched. It was all hodgepodge.
I remember it so fondly because it was so imperfect. Imperfect by today’s Instagram standards of entertaining and hosting and Pinterest worthy tablescapes.
It wasn’t about the dishes or serving pieces or even the food, necessarily. It was all about giving and serving and curating a uniquely American experience for friends who didn’t grow up in the US.
That’s where the perfection lay.
I’ve been thinking about perfection lately. It’s a lot of pressure, you know?
I’ve also been thinking about imperfection lately. There’s more grace in that, right?
There’s a certain kind of beauty in the imperfect. My sister-in-law said how her household things probably weren’t the best for a photo shoot. But, as it turns out, all of her sets of dishes and one-off dish towels and napkins turned out to be my favorite accessories and props for a photo shoot. There’s kind of like a comfort when things are accessible. Not stuffy.
I also find that there’s a sense of accomplishment in the imperfect. What do I mean by that, you may wonder? If you’re anything like me, striving to be perfect actually causes me to stay stagnant. Not taking any steps to get anywhere. It all stays in my head as theory. But when I allow things to be good enough, perception changes and that’s when you start to see the beauty.
And that’s when I started thinking how there’s perfection woven within the imperfection. That the very nature of being imperfect, is, in fact perfect.
I believe there’s a beauty in gathering things that are completely different from one another. This could be in your dishes, flatware, serving bowls and dishes, and table linens, sure. It could be in gathering decor from travels and curating your living space over time with items you fell in love with. Or things passed down from one generation to the next.
But there’s more to it than just a home that’s full of carefully and intentionally curated belongings. These things can be really wonderful and bring pleasure because each of us are made with special interests unique to us. It’s not to lessen the impact of surrounding yourself with things you love.
There’s just so much beauty in gathering people who all are completely different from one another, though. And I’m not just talking about what’s on the outside. I’m talking about different backgrounds, different views on life, different senses of humor, different stories and experiences.
It’s the people you do life with where all the wealth is, right? It’s your family, and friends, and community. All these relationships are made up of imperfect people. But the memories you make together, the stories you tell, the conversations you have, the adventures, and shared interests, the love that goes back and forth, all add up to perfection.
So, the next time you gather all of your perfectly imperfect relationships together, toss in some imperfectly miss-matched stuff, and create a moment that will be remembered as shear perfection.
