Tables

When you think of a table so many things come to mind.  An accent table for a lamp or a place to drop your keys as you walk in the door.  A coffee table, which can be a collect-all for remotes and magazines or a clean surface for a displayed treasure or an end table with a candy dish holding a simple treat that will stick in someone's memory forever.

Having my own Little and my own life's battle scars I find myself recognizing and remembering how big some of the little things are.  Like the tables.  Each one serves a different purpose and to each of us, we hold varying attachments.  For me a candy dish on my parent's table is an homage to my grandmother, the neighborhood candy lady.  She had a large tupperware container filled to the brim with assorted candy by the front door for when the neighborhood kids stopped by.  Around her Living Room were many more vessels each holding a surprise under the lid.  Each visit I would peek underneath to see if it was a hard candy or chocolate and then ask if I could have one of the best I'd found that trip.

I think back to that house and remember the kitchen table with the big wall-mounted radio where I would find my grandfather with his coffee and cigarettes, newspaper and coffee no matter how early I woke up.  The Dining Room table where I ate way too many bologna and cheese sandwiches and stared at the hutch filled with perfume bottles dressed as Avon figurines.

Tables, and varying degrees of, are where we gather and make memories.  Dinner with family, coffee with a friend or a place to rest your glass when catching up with someone you haven't seen in too long.

A childhood friend shared a few years ago that she had always been envious of me as a child knowing I had pizza night on Saturdays.  We would drink root beer and eat pizza and while for me, that was just what we did, she didn't know that simple luxury.  As an adult with a family of her own, she has made it a point to eat dinner together when their schedules allow.  It's important- that time at the table.  Even in silence, celebration, or perhaps argument, you are sharing and learning about the ones you are surrounded by.

For a long time I made a point of sitting down to eat.  No television; maybe some music, food and the people that meant the most.  And then I allowed life to get in the way.  Schedules, work, meetings, errands.... they can invade your life if you aren't careful.  I found myself doing ten tasks while my daughter sat in the other room (at the table of course) eating alone.  Technically, I was talking with her and she wasn't alone but too many days of her asking me to stop and "sit with her" made an impression.

We have gone for a while without that table.  We started eating together more but in front of the TV as we rush to finish so we can get to bed or get homework done but this week we got back to the table.  Together.

I cook and make lunch for the next day as she sits closer to me now doing her homework.  When she is done, we eat together and talk. About anything.  Silly things, Sad things, worrisome things and most of all, REAL things.  She sometimes brings me to tears and sometimes has me in stitches but that table......it wouldn't be the same without it.