Sometime back in the early ’90s I got a melamine tray from my Uncle Gene who was living in Hawai’i – I was visiting him for a week of fun-in-the-sun.
It was a reproduction of a mural by Eugene Savage who had been commissioned to create nine of them for the Matson Steamship Line pre-WWII. Matson pretty much had the monopoly on ship traffic from California to Hawai’i back in the day. I know my great aunts took the trip several times.
Although the murals were completed, the war broke out and they were never installed on the ships – the ships were used as troop transports. After the war, styles were changing, so reproductions of them were eventually used as used as keepsake menu covers for the SS Lurline – the flagship of the Matson Line.
The tray may cost him ten bucks – if that. It wasn’t valuable, just decorative.
For years, the tray sat downstairs in the basement collecting dust until one day I brought it to work with some cookies. It then sat at work until one day when I used it at the demo counter. I kinda kept thinking I would bring it home, and I kinda never did.
A regular customer came in and asked where we had gotten the tray. Andrey is from Russia, tall, dark hair, quiet, and a very genuine person. We’ve chatted in the past, he’s married to a really nice woman – Irinia – and he’s just a really nice guy. He knew of Eugene Savage and liked his work.
He said if I ever wanted to part with it, he would love to buy it. I smiled, said it wasn’t for sale, he said okay, and off he went to the cashier.
So… a minute later, I’m looking at the tray thinking it’s doing me no good, I don’t have any place at home for it, and if I leave it at work it’s eventually going to fall apart.
He was still at the register so I brought it over and gave it to him.
He was quite taken aback. He wanted to pay for it and I just said no – it’s yours. Enjoy it. I tend to cash in Karma points quicker than I can receive them – banking a few is never a bad idea. He thanked me profusely and left with a huge smile on his face.
The Sunday Before Christmas, he and his wife came in with a shopping bag. In it, he said, were the things every Russian family has at Christmas!
First up, was a bottle of a carbonated beverage called Kvass Ochakovskiy. It is made from rye bread and is naturally fermented. It’s a really refreshing sweet and sour beverage with a minimal – 1.5% – alcohol content.
Then there was a huge jar of pickled tomatoes and pickles – from Bulgaria! He said the best pickles in Russia come from Bulgaria. We laughed. Next was a hunk of halva. Sesame and honey… And a can of smoked sprats from the Baltic Sea. Sprats are small fish and contains long-chained polyunsaturated fatty acids. The little blighters are actually good for you! And they were amazing!
Finally, there was a Poppy Seed Rillet – a poppy seed pastry roll. Andrey said he hoped I didn’t have to take any drug rests soon!
I think it’s really important to note that people are not their governments. Andrey was certainly not a Putin, and I am certainly not a Trump. Immigrants coming into the US are not evil – they’re just people trying to build a better life. Just as our ancestors did.
A bit of druzhba because of a plastic tray…