The story of the key bowl

The story of the key bowl.

I went on Shopee to find a bowl to hold my keys. Saw the shop had nice bowls and grabbed three more for whatever else they could be used for. Friends who come over ask: huh, why is there a bowl sitting here? And keys in it too.

From watching movies since I was little, I'd seen modern Euro/American folks open the door, walk into the house, and toss their keys into a bowl. I could never understand why! The more movies I watched, the more bowls and plates and basins and tubs and trays I saw holding keys. At my first house I forgot to do it too — I hadn't really understood why, and living alone I didn't bother with the fancy touches. At my second house where I had someone living with me, I was already thinking about getting a bowl!

Before I got the bowl, I'd mounted a hook with four rings on the wall to hang keys. That hook got so dusty over time it went from black to dust-gray because nobody used it. Any key hung there turned dust-color too. In the five years I lived there I just left the keys on the cabinet next to the hook!

So I went on Shopee and bought one really nice bowl to put right there.

The bowl is for tossing keys in without them sliding off like a plate or when there's no bowl.
The bowl is for dropping keys into and making a sound like the Japanese chime that says food is ready, that says I'm home.
The bowl is for softening that sound at midnight to show the person still asleep that the one coming home late cares. Sometimes the sound on the bowl also tells you what mood that person is in.
The bowl is to decorate the house nicely.
The bowl is for holding many keys so that when you pick them up you don't have to untangle them like from a hook.
The bowl is for tasting a little of the "Western house" essence everyone craves.
The bowl is for holding things.