My mother-in-law asked me to help her sort out old things in the basement, and we found something interesting.

It's in the mezzanine, old stuffYou can't find anything. Vintage electrical appliances such as radio or electric razor. Even sometimes there put collections of records, by the way, some at the moment very much added in price. Dish, crystal glasses, even well-known bottles in the form of fish and royal cannons, Georgian daggers. In short, ancient relics of a country that has sunk into oblivion.



For the younger generation, this is all garbage. Maximum is a reason to go online and see how much money you can get for a few not too broken artifacts. For them, such things do not carry any nostalgia. Only cause a snide smile and disgust. But the older generation, on the contrary, is happy with any little thing that can cause him at least some memories. So don’t be surprised at old people who, like young children, play with Soviet New Year’s toys. At this moment, only for a moment, reality fades into the background in their head, giving way to the warmest emotions from the forgotten past.

In a relationship with mother-in-law, the main thing is to stay calm and remember that a lot can depend on her mood. It's not like my husband's gonna file for divorce if Mom wants to. I guess things have happened in life. But, nevertheless, the general weather in the house, it can significantly spoil. Or, conversely, improve if there are good reasons. I know this because I have been married to my husband for 12 years. She raised her daughter and is generally very happy with that.

Recently, Valeria Vladimirovna invited me to her house, to help with the house. She, too, sometimes comes to help us. So there was nothing wrong with that. The woman is already old, some activities are given to her with difficulty. She wanted to do a little basement work, free him from unnecessary things. And there it will warm, conservation can be brought down. At first, I was afraid that I would be forced to unload the entire room from some antediluvian garbage and I was already, to be honest, ready to refuse. But in time she changed her mind and forced herself to come to her mother-in-law, at least to look at the front of the work.



It turned out that the basement was almost empty. I saw some things on the shelves and on the floor. But nothing that can’t be done in a few hours. So, rolling up my sleeves, I got to work. My husband would have done it much faster, but he was working too hard. It's the end of the month, he always has an abrupt period. It's okay, we're all family. And a couple of extra "points" I earn myself.

Everything they found had to go straight to the trash. Valeria Vladimirovna said it immediately. Everything that was there must have belonged to my deceased father-in-law. The most important things were done long ago by my husband. So, in theory, only some garbage should remain in the basement. And in general, that's what it was. Stacks of newspapers, old New Year rains, noticeably bald from time to time. Details from a Soviet bicycle, rusty and bent. Some weird hardware. And... A set of Soviet dishes in the form of a fish family. The big bottlefish and its little fish shots.

I've heard about this service for a long time. Porcelain greetings from the past, which my mother-in-law mentioned several times only in my presence. She liked it wildly in her youth, but somehow there was no opportunity to buy it. My father-in-law promised everything and promised to buy it, but he never bought it, according to legend. But now it turns out that the gift was actually purchased. But the recipient was never delivered. He also had one noticeable flaw. The big fish, I don't know for what reason, had a large and noticeable chip. It has lost its functionality and appearance forever. And now she had only one road - to the trash.



But at some point, I had this idea in my head that just getting rid of this fish find would be wrong. The glasses weren't hurt. Even the box is kind of in good condition. Of course, the big fish will not be returned. But what if you bought it at a flea market somewhere? Nowadays it is fashionable to be a collector of everything. I'll find this item and deliver a gift to my mother-in-law. It’s a shame for her husband...

And I started looking. First I wanted to go through all the big flea markets of the city. It turns out they are not very popular these days. And I only managed to find one. There was everything: orders, badges, medals, coins, plaster figurines and a bunch of other things that I would never agree to keep in my apartment. But there was no fish I was looking for. So I decided to go online with this question. And things started to get better. The fish started pecking.

But unfortunately, my “fishing” was not without problems. The first seller turned out to be a banal fraudster, who from the very beginning began to load me with some delivery service he knew. “Money forward” almost got to the point where I had to photograph my card from both sides. In general, I am lucky that at my age, you still understand that you can easily wear shoes on the Internet. I complained about the ad, I hope the moderators remove it.



Then I signed off with another salesman, a very nice woman. She kept trying to sell me her other products, including fish shots. But I had another task. Anyway, we didn't make a deal with her either. Because at the last moment I decided to remember, and what color was this set in the basement of my mother-in-law (there, by the way, he stayed)? And I remembered that we were blue. There was something else in the ad. Same fish, same model. The color is different. A moment I wouldn't pay attention to. I just remember something. I had to apologize for wasting my time.

Finally, the third seller was the one. And his fish is cheap. And he lives not far from my house. Great. We met, made a sale and I was happy to go home. Then, a few days later, I asked my mother-in-law for a cup of tea. She left something in her basement that she wanted to take away. She also took out a recently purchased fish from her bag and put it in a box with the rest of her children. I made sure they were all from the same set, and I hid the broken part of the service in my bag. So that there is no unnecessary suspicion.



Okay, so be it, I'll tell you. With me in my bag I took a small pack of sweets and a bottle of semi-sweet. My mother-in-law and I should have hushed up an old quarrel that has officially been forgotten, but any adult woman will understand me, because nothing is so easy to forget. Going up to Valeria Vladimirovna’s apartment and handing her a fish set, I didn’t even expect her to feel so much. I thought she would smile and tell a story about her life with her husband. But her tears, literally, poured stream.

I had to get some chocolate and some sweets. Heal the nerves. My mother-in-law gladly agreed and we did not even sit badly with her. We talked like family. Like two grown women. It was very nice and somehow... That's right. No kids, no other people. Just normal communication, as it should be. I couldn't have dreamed more.



At the end of our conversation, as I was about to leave, my husband’s mother handed me a brooch. My favorite. She asked me to give it to her granddaughter. She had her eye on her for a long time. She somehow likes everything vintage. And I certainly took that brooch. And the little one will be pleasant, and the mother-in-law will be glad when she sees her granddaughter with her decoration. What a great feeling when you realize that all the work you did was not done in vain. And that you, for all eternity, did one hundred percent right.