When I came back from a one-year study in China, I brought home a bowl and a pair of spoon and fork, which with a pair of cheap wooden chopsticks I left behind, were the only eating utensils I had while living there. It wasn't a beautiful bowl, nor was it an expensive one. It is made of melamine and had pictures of red berries, yellow pears and blue grapes with green leaves encircling the outer part of it. Nothing is special about that bowl, except for the fact that it is mine and that I like eating with that bowl. The spoon and fork, being a pair and made of steel, each has a rose-shaped carving on their handling, which makes them look elegant. What I like more about them is their perfect curves and thickness, which I find comfortable for eating. Again, nothing stands out about the pair. One can easily find such pair of spoon and fork, even more beautiful and expensive ones, very easily these days. They are, however, special to me.
Even now everytime I need to use a tablespoon, I will scrabble through the container, looking for my favorite spoon with the rose-shaped carving on its handling. Sometimes it takes me a while to find it amongst the other spoons, but I always persevere until I find it, and the voice in my head goes, "There you are!" triumphantly. The food, of course, doesn't actually taste any more delicious, but I have a more enjoyable eating experience, simply by holding that spoon in my hands.
We all have our favorite things. Those things that don't necessarily have practical function, and yet, simply adds pleasure, sometimes to an unreasonable extent, to our everyday experiences. We all have our favorite old tee-shirt, favorite dish, favorite piece of music, favorite book, favorite tea, favorite perfume...the list goes on and on.
And it seems the 'favorite' label is not exclusive only to us humans.
My dog Kayla has found her new favorite things. It started around a year ago after we fixed our old couches in the living room. Looking new and being comfortable to sit on now, the couch was like a magnet pulling me and my comfort-loving buttock. I started doing my reading sitting on that couch. Then, I started spending a few hours every night having fun with my phone, sitting on that couch. Soon enough, I took my laptop to the living room, so that I could watch my favorite TV series sitting on that couch. Kayla, who had never jumped up onto a couch before, was facing a dilemma now. She wanted to sit next to me, and yet seemed to be afraid to jump up. For the first few weeks I had to carry her up the couch, which could be a little annoying sometimes since she would always jump down everytime she heard any suspicious sound and went outside to investigate it, and then come back asking for my help, in her cute way, to carry her back up on the couch. This could happen more than a few times a night, until I decided to teach her to jump up onto the couch by herself.
Now, mastering the skill, she can jump up onto and down from the couch as she likes it. Sitting, sometimes even curling up sleeping, there for hours a day is one of her favorite things to do. Even the long couch has been claimed as her favorite spot. Whenever a guest comes over and takes a sit on that couch, she will quickly jump up and sit right next to this invader, as if saying, "This is the farthest you are allowed to go on my couch."
When it comes to our favorite things, I think they also give us a sense of belonging and personal identity. After all, the best description of those closest to us are often on their favorite things. Those particular things they do or like that inevitably remind us of them.
My sister's favorite color is purple. So ever since I learned that about her, the color purple has always reminded me of my sister.
One of my best friend loves reading so much, the other loves crocheting. When I have to describe them, their favorite things to do simply come to mind.
When I was little, I would have fun making my own biography, listing all my favorite things, starting from my favorite color to my favorite car. They, of course, change with time. But then again, so do I. Still, it's nice learning our favorite things, just as it is learning others'. Even nicer is surrounding ourselves everyday with our favorite things.
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