Hanging Lamp
When I was a young adult and finally secure enough in the world to think of making my small apartment a nicer place to be, I decided to start with lighting, I would make a bright spot in my rather barren little apartment. I searched hardware stores and ceiling fixture stores to find something just right for me. At the time most cities had several stores dedicated to selling these household essentials, and I bought the components to wire an overhead swag light that plugged into the wall. This sort of swag light was not available back then, at least I had never heard of them. I wanted a pretty overhead light with dimmer switch to create a reading nock in my apartment so I bought a small, lovely, expensive ceiling light fixture and modified it so that it would plug into the wall of any apartment that I rented. I remember my lamp quite clearly, it was soft white, about 18 inches tall, shaped like a hanging lotus blossom with five or six frosted soft white glass petals. I bought a fifteen foot extension cord, cut off the outlets, threaded the cord though about fifteen feet of pale gold gilt chain that matched the pale gold gilt that framed the glass petals, and wired it to the lamp. When complete it was lovely. I would twist a hook into the ceiling, hang my lamp by its chain, adjust its dimmer switch at an agreeable height to my reading chair, and each evening after work I would read, study, and relax under the glow of my soft white lotus blossom. But that did not happen. I did finish assembling my hanging lamp, but I made the mistake of showing it to my paternal grandmother Throcky before I hung it in my apartment. My grandmother literally grabbed it out of my hands, and said she was going to install it in her own living room, because it was so pretty. And that is what she did, installed it in her own living room. I tried over the years to get my grandmother to give my lamp back to me but she refused. I would have had to take it by brute force and I would not do that. I do not brawl. My grandmother never struck me but she could be quite menacing. I must have been a timid and thoroughly intimated young woman. I am sorry for that, for me back then. Prayers.
So, my paternal grandmother Throcky took my hanging lamp from me, then upon her death and over my protestations my mother took my hanging lamp from my grandmother's estate, and then decades later when I finally inherited this same hanging lamp back at my mother passing, my pretty hanging lamp was dented and scrapped, grubby beyond use. I am still upset over this, they stole it from me and then did not even take care of it. Perhaps writing this will release my unhappiness over this intergenerational, intrafamilial theft.
In writing this I noticed that word usage has slipped a little in the past half century, however and still, as per this random internet source, "Light and Lamp, while both related to illumination, have distinct definitions and uses. Light refers to the natural or artificial brightness that allows us to see and perceive objects around us. Lamp, conversely, is a physical object or device designed to produce and emit light, often for specific purposes like reading or decoration."
Hanging Light With Plug In Cord, That Plugs Into Wall Outlet With Dimmable Switch And 15 ft Cord
screen capture non-commercial use 2024
(not my lotus lamp but similar assembly)
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