I’m sitting here cuddled up on the couch tonight all by myself, enjoying the quiet, and looking at the kitchen table I love so much. Life has always happened around it. Life just looks a lot different these days. Seasons – they change.
The table cloth is hanging way too low on one side – the side where I last sat this morning. And there are a few crumbs left there too. (I love a good English muffin with jam). My planner is spread out at one of the other settings, where this evening I made some tentative plans to attend a hockey game soon and plans to meet up with two new special friends, penciled in a pizza night with my grandkids and some friends, and a musical with Dave & Jean.
I really should shake out that table cloth and throw it in the washer.
My Dad’s cap hangs on the shelf on the wall behind it, and pictures of my grandkids hang beside that. I often wish he could meet them. Some day I hope he does.
The cicadas seem to have gone to sleep, but just a little while ago they were taking turns making that cool noise that only cicadas make, and now I can hear the crickets outside really loudly, because it’s finally cool enough to leave the door wall open. Ah, God really does have a string section 😉
When I first began blogging, I remember wanting to write about anything that took place at my kitchen table. That table has changed a few times, but it’s purpose has been inherited by one new table after another. Each one I’ve cherished.
I shopped for a long time to find just the right first table. I knew what I wanted, and I knew when I found the right one, I’d know it. That moment came one day when my sons were very young, and we were shopping at Sears as it was closing. “As is,” furniture was all over the place, the floor was a mess, and we were weaving in and out of all sorts of pieces of furniture when I found a really pretty, dark wooden table with 6 chairs. But how would I get it home?
I called my neighbor and close friend Michele, and she soon came to my rescue with her van. Since it was a close-out sale, the salesmen were even unwilling to help us load it into her van. So I purchased the appropriate tools to remove the legs, and Michele, myself, my two boys, her two boys, and twin girls managed to load the table, its four legs, and six chairs into her van, (along with the eight of us), drove in some pretty heavy snow/rain/slush/mess and even stopped at Mcdonald’s for ice cream on the way home. Over the years I wish I’d have kept track of every soul who came and sat with us. I loved that table, and it stayed in my dining room many years.
Several years later, my dream table – an oak clawfoot dining room table with six chairs went on sale on a Sunday at Art Van, but I still really couldn’t afford it. The next day I stopped at the end of my street, and there it sat on the side of the road. I felt like that little girl on Miracle on 34th Street at the end of the movie when she sees her house and insists that her mother and father pull over immediately. Someone had tossed it out to the street. A friend and I lugged it all the way back to my house on foot, and a couple of months later we found out who threw it away and they offered us the six matching chairs as well! I’ll let you guess what I said.
Fast forward to 2021, and I moved into a smaller one-story condo. The original large wooden dining table was put out to the street, and I hoped someone would find it as much of a treasure as it had been to me. A few days later, I learned that a friend’s daughter had come and gotten it. That really made me smile.
I had also purchased a very small white wooden table with two chairs for my kitchen at my favorite store in Saginaw, but when I moved into my new home, it was too small for my dining area, so that one currently sits in my basement, and the oak clawfoot table is in the dining area. I covered it with a pretty blue-green table cloth, and added the two white chairs to match my decor, but… I really needed two more. Where would I find them? That table came from a specialty store.
Lo and behold, one day while seeing patients in an assisted living home, a gentleman’s mother had passed away and he was removing her furniture from the room. He asked me to hold the door open as he walked out with two chairs on his shoulders that matched the two at my current table! Score! A few minutes later I was the proud owner of two white chairs that matched the other two white chairs!
By this time, you probably think I need to join a support group for people who collect kitchen tables. But I like to think of it as more of a gift that God just keeps giving me. He knows I love faces across from me at my table. He provides me with the sweetest souls as friends, and a place for us to visit. And though I may not have a separate dining room anymore, would you believe He even provided me with a nice long porch with a beautiful view to relax on every night?
My chairs match each other, but they still don’t match my table. I’m certain, though, that no one who’s ever sat there has noticed. Or cared. I love it. I’ve laughed at it, cried at it, had two people at it, 10 people at it, and this Friday I’m going to have 12 people sitting around that table! I’ve played games there, wrapped gifts, and even had snowball fights around the table – several of them, in fact!
Yesterday I was a little overwhelmed (okay, maybe a lot overwhelmed), by some yucky stuff, but today… today I hear the cicadas and the crickets singing. Amy sent me a picture of her cute new kitten, and texted me Matthew 6:26 right when I needed to read Matthew 6:26! Mike & Sarah sent me some pictures of their beautiful new granddaughter. I sat next to Katie the past few days listening to her sing, and Bernie interacting with all (ALL) of her patients as if they were old friends. Joyce came over last night for a quick visit and a laugh, and tomorrow I get to catch up with Deb. My Christmas shopping is nearly done. My friend in Australia has sent me some fun poems to read, and it’s almost time to pull out the fall clothes. I love sweaters. And donuts. And cider. My friends are coming from Iowa in November for a three-day visit, & I can’t wait to see them – and have them at my table!
So there you have it – the history of all of my kitchen tables. It was good for me to reflect on this today. Trust me. It was. Now I’ve got some kitchen table shenanigan ideas running through my noggin. I’ll keep ya posted.
Till then, let me know when you can come pull up a chair and chat so we can sharpen each other’s iron !
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
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