Not Just A Table

Six years ago, after Matt and I got married we started getting hand me down, garage sale, goodwill furniture.  The reality is that law school was expensive and to make it work we lived in kind of a crappy one bedroom apartment and we took all the stuff we could get from friends and relatives.

One of those items was a table with 2 leaves and 6 chairs.  My dad had found it at an estate auction and got it for $25.  It was a table straight out of the 70s.  It had a laminate faux wood top and hideous green flowered chairs.  But it was a table.  Those first few years it was more of a storage/study area.  It always had law books, bills, pay check stubs, and anything else that we had came through the door.  We were on different schedules, but we would occasionally actually sit at that table to have dinner or at least stand around the table.

I remember sitting at that table crying with each one of our miscarriages and how comforting that cold laminate felt on my face.  I also remember sitting at the table and filling at baby books/scrapbooks when we got blessed with each of our 3 children.

That table has been witness to every dinner, birthday, Thanksgiving, Easter egg dying, and pumpkin carving.  Every picture we took those hideous green chairs always stood out, but it also was a reminder that we had spent our money on more important things and that it doesn't matter where you sit as long as you do it as a family.

The last several years the cushions had started to crack and come off.  The hand of time started to prove too much for the table that had stood strong through so many years.  Over Thanksgiving one of the braces had cracked.  It still stood fine and was safe.  We thought it would make it a little longer.  Like a symbol of the huge change we are getting ready to make the table lost another bracket and came crashing down.  Getting rid of it was hard.

As I get ready to buy a new table I'm excited to see what memories will be created, and as we eat every dinner, celebrate birthdays, and live life I know this new table signifies a fresh start. We have come a long way, but we have made it.

I know it seems silly, it's just a table to you.  But to me it wasn't just a table, it was a time capsule of memories.

~Amanda