change is gonna come (CHANGE)

Earlier this evening, I gave away part of my past. The futon I had since my days in Okinawa, a custom piece made in South Korea for my boyfriend at the time, is now gone. I swear, the room I had it in now has an empty feel to it, even though that room still has furniture in it. I almost thought I heard an echo.
I also gave away my stoneware which I had purchased in Okinawa and used for almost three decades. I had bought it just a little ahead of my "permanent change of station", or PCS, in 1982, wanting to get a few good items for the Navy to ship for me. The maker was Ranmaru, style Lotus White, color "Soft Petals". A lovely, graceful service for eight, with dinner plates, bread plates, saucers, teacups, salad bowls, a serving bowl, and a meat plate.
As I recall, the cups and saucers were given to Goodwill some years ago, as I did not use them. The dinner and bread plates, as well as the bowls, were all used regularly and some were broken along the way. Eventually, I was down to two bowls, five bread plates, and four dinner plates. The dinner plates and four of the bread plates left this evening to help someone who lost all in a fire. I do hope they will bring her as much pleasure as they brought me.
I have kept the odd bread plate, the two chipped bowls, the serving bowl and the meat plate. I may give them away, too, one day, but not quite yet. I'm not done with those memories evoked by the pattern: shopping on Gate 2 Street, so many meals shared with family and friends, packing and unpacking for each move.
The futon served me well and was, as I said, a custom piece. A modified double bed, it was sectional and folded into a neat loveseat, waiting to be unfolded on a tatami mat for the evening. I always received "outstanding" awards for my barracks room there on The Rock. The futon was constructed as separate foam cushions which fit in the zippered compartments of the washable cloth cover. I'm telling you, it was a wonderful piece of furniture! I never saw anything like it here in the States.
After a couple of decades, the zippers on two of the compartments wore out and jumped their tracks, refusing to be set right. Still, the futon itself carried on as an emergency guest bed for many friends and even some family. If not for the comfortable mattress in the sleeper sofa, I might have held on to that futon forever.
But the sleeper sofa DOES have a comfortable mattress. And the sleeper sofa looks good in the guest room and makes the term "guest room" more meaningful, somehow, than an odd futon with busted zippers. And I have noticed that those who partake of the guest room enjoy using the space as a sitting room as much as a bedroom. That's nice, to be able to offer the feel of a suite to a single room.
Still, it feels like such an end of an era. No more Korean futon. No more Ranmaru stoneware set.
Change IS gonna come - CHANGE!