I remember being in the furniture store that day. We looked for something beautiful. We looked for something that would expand to fit our growing family. We had no children, but we knew we would. Of course we would. A million of them and we'd all live happily ever after.
When we found our table we both loved it. The salesman (realizing that we were young and dumb) told us that he once saw a woman wash her kitchen table with a wet washcloth. He was horrified because real wood should not be washed with water like that.
We nodded solemnly swearing to never water our table. We'd buy the expensive cream to polish it once a week. We'd always use a tablecloth and coasters. And really how dirty could it get? We were humans, not pigs. We went home the proud new owners of this beautiful table.
Our large family was delayed and looking at that table broke my heart. It was too big. Too big for the tiny dining room it occupied. Too big for the two of us. Too big for most things. I hated it. It represented everything I didn't have and so desperately wanted.
Then we had kids. 2 of them. And do you know what they do to that table?
They EAT AT IT. Every damn day.
They spill milk in the cracks which open to new leaves. They smear oatmeal and blueberries along the side of it's beautiful wood grain. They climb up and stand on it.
The notion that a meal can happen without food winding up directly on the table is beyond me. If I don't take a wet washcloth to it at least twice a day the filth becomes caked on. Like a living tree I'm afraid it would begin to grow around the remnants of meals trapping them forever deep inside the wood.
It no longer looks empty to me.
That table was in perfect condition for nearly 2 years. And now.....well it has no hope of ever being entirely clean ever again.
But it's ours. It's the table that we gather around 3 times a day.
Draw your own parallels.
Love it when you post.
ReplyDeleteAnd this has nothing to do with anything deep or reflective...just a cool trick my friend taught me that has saved our wood tables (including the heirloom one from my grandma).
Get clear vinyl "tablecloth" fabric (the long rolls) from the fabric store and cover your table. I was first struck by how my friend put family photos and other things under the vinyl, but I soon discovered that it saved our table, too. (And it's easy to clean!)
FWIW. ;)