Polly Put the Kettle On...

...but Suki, remember to take it off before it boils dry for the third time and this time, really croaks.Good bye, little kettle. We had no kettle when we first moved to Philadelphia, a family of three trying to get by on a graduate student's grant. I spotted you at a garage sale and although you were only five dollars, in our new-found poverty, Ed thought I was being wildly extravagant buying you. But you have made us many wonderful cups of tea, supported Ed's need for LemSips through the winter, and often filled my hot water bottle, despite the warning label. You were a valued member of our household and we're sorry we let you boil dry so often, thus deforming your bottom past all redemption.

Our new kettle may be shinier (and it cost ten dollars more than you did), but I will never feel the affection for it that I have come to have for you. You are a symbol of our graduate school era and as such, deserve a permanent place in our lives, even if not as maker of hot water. I will turn you into a planter.