Great Expectations

Inspired by several current special events I constructed this haiku:

Anticipation;
Nostalgia for something that
Hasn’t happened yet.


When thinking about a long anticipated event one can get caught up in the possibilities without regard to reality. Everything seems to be in place to make it memorable and an experience to treasure in the future. But so much can go wrong that it’s sometimes necessary to put the brakes on anticipation and lower ones expectations a tad, just to protect oneself against unforeseen disappointments. Even some minor glitch can get blown out of proportion just because the “ideal” parade suffers a drizzle. But the mere fact of a travel snag or a weather blip doesn’t mean you have to leave the cake out in the rain. You really can make lemonade from the most mundane ingredients if you lower your expectations in advance.

It’s a warning always to be aware of. I had a glorious day at the beach ruined by the worst traffic jam of my life on the trip home (a sunburned butt didn’t help). I had the once-in-a-lifetime thrill of cruising through the Panama Canal almost smothered by a travel glitch; not of my own making but caused by some “executive” decision to delay my flight out of Acapulco and causing me to miss my connection and suffer a horrible overnight stay in a fleabag hotel in Chicago in the dead of winter. My Panama cruise will be forever made murky by the subsequent horror. I have other examples but those should suffice.

Expectations can end up being so cruel. But, damn it, anticipation can be fun. And sometimes the glitch makes the pudding. Getting trapped for an hour on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World was horrible. But the telling of it is a hoot. Which goes to prove that nostalgia can be fickle and wears a Janus mask sometimes.

Glass Welfare

I think I’ve mentioned on here before that when I’m consulted by guests, friends, acquaintances and other passers-through as to what-to-do when visiting NYC, I give advice mostly based on what I know about this traveling flotsam. One thing is consistent however. I tell them to hit the elegant high-end stores along Fifth Avenue from about 44th St. all the way up to 60th. And I don’t mean just to window shop either, I mean these stores are retail establishments and, therefore, open to all; even the tank top and flip flop crowd. It’s sort of a 15-block retail museum of the first rank and you don’t have to buy a thing! Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not a joke; even though they might frown on you dropping crumbs on their pristine floors from your glazed chocolate pastry from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Anyway, the reason I’m reiterating this advice is that one of my prime suggestions has always been the Steuben Glass flagship store smack in the middle of this miracle mile of retail overindulgence. It’s glassware to die for and, along with domestic usage, some of the glass sculpture is astonishing. I think you know where I’m going with this.

Three years ago some executive(s) at an outfit called Schottenstein Stores Corporation, which operates retail chains (including Value City Furniture and the DWS shoe stores), bought Steuben from Corning Glass Works just as the economy started sliding into the dumper. Steuben was pretty much a vanity business for Corning since its founding in 1903 (yes, 1903!) and only kept it open for prestige, not profit, and through the years sought their fortune elsewhere in manufacturing technically-inclined glass-based products and brought themselves into the modern age by making stuff for high-tech applications, like computer monitors and LCD televisions. The offer from Schottenstein must have sent smirk-modes onto the faces of the inhabitants of the corner offices at Corning, big time. Anyway, the sale was completed, three years go by and Mr. and Mrs. Schottenstein have egg on their faces and Steuben will be no more by the end of the year. The going-out-of-business sale is in full swing as we speak and you can buy a 2” x 3” glass hand warmer in the shape of a cat for $200, instead of $300. What a bargain!

I must jump in here and confess that I do own a Steuben paperweight in the shape of a seashell (yeah, I know, what else?). I bought it for myself in about 1985 when I was feeling flush and, I must say, I’ve never regretted it. It’s really beautiful and one of my favorite tchotchkes and it will always remain in the rotation on my shelves. However, I’ve looked through the sale items and have decided the prices continue to be out of my league; so I will value my one small piece of Steuben and love it twice as much.