love is an icecream bowl

When my grandmother died, my family asked if I wanted some of her plates. I said if no one else wanted them that I did. My mom sent them to me, across the country.
Many of them broke, but many survived. I use them as my everyday plates, because I feel like they should be loved, like the Velveteen Rabbit.
Every year when I was a little girl we would go see my Mommy Vi whenever we could and especially for holidays like Christmas when all the Aunts would come in. My family sounds and acts like Paula Dean, btw. Mommy Vi lived about 2 1/2 hours away from us. When her house sold, I cried.
We would all eat icecream in these bowls and Mommy Vi would feed everyone. She was one of the most loving people I have ever known. And Big Lo (my grandfather) would eat just a little too much and unbuckle his belt... or he'd simply already be in his brown velour tracksuit sitting on the sofa. and I'd get a brown velour hug. My grandfather was actually a really charismatic and intelligent person... very respected by so many people, but I knew him as the man in the tracksuit who pasted a giant smiling aligator photo in his basement.