Saying goodbye to my first set of dishes; Trying not to eat this ugly cherry pie

My very first set of dishes: Homer Laughlin Harlequin.

With only one year of college under my belt, I moved out of home at age 18 and set up housekeeping in a two-bedroom apartment with my brother down in Nashville, Tennessee. These dishes were one of my first purchases toward that new life "out on my own."
   Some are chipped, a few are missing and the top to the sugar bowl has been broken and glued back together, but I still love these and never once thought about selling them, even after all these years.
   Languishing as they were out on a shelf in our garage, these dishes were standing in the way of my minimalist ideal. Hook, line and sinker, I have absolutely swallowed the idea that having fewer possessions will equal having MORE life. But boy, giving up some things is like giving up my past, my younger me. In some ways I liked her better than the me of today. ;)
   Our DD is not "into" these chipped remnants of yesteryear, so I have just given these dishes to a dear cousin, a vintage-loving gal who will cherish them just as much as I did.
   Likely the dishes will earn some new chips as they help to create another lifetime of memories. What better tribute can I pay to my past than to ensure it has a future?

Ugliest cherry pie I've ever made, but BOY, do I want some of it! Too lazy to get out the recipe, I winged it and ended up using too much shortening in the crust.  Hubby says it tastes great, despite its ugly crust, so I will definitely be freezing a slice for me to eat on cheat day. Awfully glad I remembered to put a drip pan under the pie as it baked. After all these years, don't you think it's time I broke down and bought one of those nifty pie crust shields? Meantime, I'll wash and re-use the foil.

We had a perfect rain here in western Kentucky yesterday...the kind where you sit on the porch swing and watch the rain come down as the sun shines and steam rises from the road and the roofs. Hubby's in the process of painting our porch columns. He just painted them not too long ago but the paint was old and had taken on a pinkish cast. Bugged him enough for him to paint the columns again!

   When I saw my cousin's eyes shining yesterday as she looked at these, giving them away was easy. I truly mean that and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but it doesn't stop me from mooning over my dishes a bit today. Anyone else still have that first set of dishes or something else that takes you back to your very first home away from home?