Petit Point dishes from a kind stranger

Several years ago, I wrote about having found a new Royal Albert Petit Point cup and saucer (shown here) at a bargain price. It's probably the most accidentally interesting blog post I've ever written, simply because I have received lots of e-mails from people scouring the internet who wanted to sell me some of their Petit Point dishes. Now, you can learn a lot about human nature by studying such e-mails. As most of you know, I'm pretty cheap when it comes to my "collecting" (far too formal a term for my little junkin' habit). So when people offer to sell me entire sets of dishes, I write them back politely and say thanks, but I'm not really a serious collector of this pattern. Sometimes, too, I've gotten rather snippy e-mails letting me know that if I didn't go to some website immediately and pony up rather large amounts for their Petit Point wares, I was going to lose out on the opportunity of a lifetime. I didn't acknowledge those sorts of e-mails, though I can assure you I was tempted to! Most people, though, have been exceedingly nice, and some were almost apologetic about even e-mailing me. A kind inquiry is never in bad taste, so I have never minded those polite inquiries.

But the *best* such e-mail came recently from a woman in Alabama, a small business owner, who happened to buy some items that included three Petit Point bread and butter plates. When she searched online for more info, she came across my old blog post. This time, she wasn't trying to sell me anything. She just wanted the plates to have a happy home, and she said if I'd pay for postage she'd send them to me for free. Now isn't that amazing?

I love the new plates (they make me want to go cross-stitch the design), but mostly I love knowing how they came into my possession. And now it's inspired me to "pay it forward," so hopefully soon I'll be able to do something kind for a complete stranger, simply for the pleasure of being nice!