My Table Diary

On a recent visit from my sister she remarked on how scratched up and marred my dining table was. Never having noticed that before, as I looked closely, I had to agree that the tabletop was not the smooth, shiny surface that it had been a dozen years ago when purchased.

Sitting at the table, running my fingers across the pitted top I remembered how the slow decline of the table top occurred.

-Train track ruts, from a model set that Jim set up one Christmas to the delight of the grand children

-Scissor marks from little hands learning to cut

-Veneer chipped off where glue was left to dry and then scrapped off with a fingernail or blunt knife.

-Coffee and cocoa mug circles where long talks resulted in solutions to life's' problems.

-Inch-long marks where reports were collated and stapled together.

-Scuff marks from plastic bins of research, books and journals being pulled across the surface in order to find the correct citation for a doctoral project. 

-Memories of grand daughters creating memory books as high school seniors, spending hours upon hours, days upon days, writing, cutting, remembering, and gluing. 

-Memories of family celebrations filled with laughter and story-telling, events that even when repeated repeatedly never ceased to amuse as details are remembered and/or enhanced.

-Scrapes from heavy glassware being shifted from place to place to form the perfect mock-up for a candy buffet at a grand daughter's wedding.

Six chairs are covered in white and raspberry upholstery material, purchased down the street at a yard sale for five dollars and self-installed.A black dot on the white part of one chair brings memories of a Sharpie that got away from little hands.

People use the expression, "If these walls could talk?" In my case I would say, "If this table could talk?"

Replacing the table and chairs has crossed my mind in the past few years, more tired of the style than anything else. But now, after moseying down memory lane, I might have a difficult time parting with this fifty pound diary.

And that's what I think about it.