Shattering Saturday

There is no picture of the event I am about to describe, so you are going to have to use your imaginations. But first, a little story.

These are the glasses Mom uses when she drinks. Mom says everybody has glasses. Our glasses look ordinary, but Mom says they are special. How special?Mom says they are "Picardie" glasses, made in France and made by Duralex. Mom has had some for 30 years. Yes, that's right. Some of these glasses are 30 years old. Back when Mr Karate was in college and got an apartment with 3 other guys, Mom bought him a dozen and another dozen for herself.

How, you are wondering, does a glass last 30 years? Each of Mr Karate's roommates brought glasses when they moved into the apartment, but only Mr Karate packed his glasses when they moved out.

These Duralex glasses are tempered, that's why. Mom says they are made of the same stuff that windshields on metal machines are made from. This means the glasses are very tough and practically indestructible. They can get banged around, even dropped on the floor, and they won't break.

Unless.

Over time, if a glass gets bumped and dropped enough, the molecules inside rearrange themselves. And then one time, the merest little tap will cause one of these glasses to explode into a veritable army of squarish pieces that will fly everywhere.

Mom was emptying the dishwasher the other night, while she was making her dinner. She lifted one of these glasses out of the top rack, and bumped it gently against something. The glass shattered, sending little fragments in the dishwasher, on the counter, on the floor.... all over the place. Now these little pieces are not sharp like ordinary glass, and that's a good thing, but they are still glass and Mom had to stop what she was doing and clean it all up right away.

I, of course, ran like hell when I heard the sound.

Which is why you have to use your imaginations.