Vanishing Cutlery

Ministers do a lot of entertaining at the manse -- dinners and meetings and teas, and hospitality and so on. Most of the people one entertains would seem to be entirely trustworthy. Yet what one discovers through the course of ministry is that cutlery vanishes at quite a pace. I was looking today at my late mother's cutlery sets. She bought simple, elegant, valuable cutlery. Of one set, there are two pieces left. Of another set, three pieces left. I remember when they were complete, decades ago. I have lost a large amount of cutlery myself. The most recent items to vanish were two silver birth spoons, with my initials engraved on them.