Sheila Sims Iding
“Whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name…there is love. There is love.” It’s a famous Bible verse and part of a famous wedding song. When people gather there is love and there is no place that people gather more often than around a kitchen table.
If you think about it the kitchen table has been the staple of people lives going back to when homes were first built in the colonies. They didn’t have much but they almost always had a table and people gathered there. Even at church we gather around the sacred table of a Eucharistic meal.
Why all this table talk? Last night we moved the table out of our kitchen to make way for a new one. (Potterybarn was calling and I answered.) Besides, Joey and Addie are putting their first home together so a good table and chairs can always use a good home. So out with the old and in with the new.
But…not so fast. As the old table and chairs got moved to the garage yesterday I felt a bit of sentimentality creep in. (Surprise!) I realized if that table could talk, there are a lot of memories tucked in that wood grain, embedded in those leaves (and stray crumbs) and seeded in those chairs. Well…silly me…tables can’t talk but still it seems like that table has been part of our family for years and so as it moves on I just want to say thanks.
Thanks for being the staple of our kitchen for all these years. Until the empty spot this morning, I have to say I took for granted the space it filled.
Thanks for the family dinners…ALL the family dinners that were present all those nights. Like most families, we each had our own chair…our own spot. Not sure how each place was determined but it was almost set in stone. When kids left for college, it was their empty spot at the table that resonated missing them the most.
Thank you for extending yourself for extended family dinners. When family came from Minnesota, when family came for holidays, when family came after funerals, when family came for “welcome homes” and for “sending offs”…as our family extended so did the table. There is nothing like family…extended family…gathered around a table with chairs too close, dishes even closer and not quite enough elbow room. As you hold hands around that table to say grace…that is when a family seems closest…literally and figuratively.
Thank you for the booster chair you welcomed for Austin some 16 years ago. And the booster chair you welcomed for Finnegan just last year. I think sippy cups and those little spoons and forks were you best decorations.
Thank you for the people who once graced this table and did not return. Those who moved on to other families. Those who moved home to the great table in heaven.
Thank you for being a haven for Grandpa Joe as he came for dinners after Grandma died. He took Joey’s spot at the table and Toby knew it and guarded the floor for the meat treats Grandpa Joe "accidentally" dropped.
Thank you for that spot at the table Andy loved best (the one at the end by the counter so he could refill on cheesy potatoes.)
Thank you for new people gracing our table. For Addie’s family who sat here just a few Sundays ago and it seemed like they had always been gathered here.
Thank you for being the banquet table for parties and the buffet table as we showered brides-to-be and mommies-to-be.
Thank you for being the homework table…especially for college years. Accounting, algebra and economics seemed more “comfortable” at a table than at a desk.
Thank you for being the student center for all those online classes. That table was library, resource center and media center all in one.
Thank you for being the mail center for letters and packages to go the next day to holding the deposits of each day’s mail waiting for an evening sort.
Thank you for being the desk that held important papers from letters of intent to doctor’s reports to graduation forms to medicine to tickets to New York City and a passport to China.
Thank you for holding all those birthday cakes and holding all the memories of lighted candles and the birthday song that celebrated another year of life...another memory.
Thank you for being the cookie decorating central at Christmas time. It seems as we decorated each cookie, the table itself became decorated with frosting, sprinkles and one more permanent dot of food coloring.
Thank you for the children you welcomed for the “Tree-mendous” Christmas party that has now become an annual tradition. Little kids gathered around that table laughing and giggling had to be a special memory.
Thank you for all my friends that seemed at home around that table. We solved so many world problems right at that table that it seemed to rival whatever gather tables there are in that room at the United Nations.
Thank you for being a safety net for cats trying to get away from dogs (don’t tell the company the cats were allowed on the table) and for your chairs being their favorite hiding place for afternoon naps.
Thank you for being the craft center for Care Corner and conference notes and homework center for a first grade teacher and all that stuff she spread all over the table almost every night. ALL that stuff.
Thank you for being the busiest place as we made open house posters, funeral posters, prepared birthday packages to send to Minnesota and wrapped Christmas presents late into the night…late in December.
Thank you for being the solemn place as we dealt with the emotions of a family argument, a priest trying to explain why, a sister trying to understand why and an “uncle” making the offer of a lifetime.
If that table could talk it would tell of babies and grandparents. It would tell of tears and giggles and card games and soccer and hockey games. It would tell of empty chairs and chairs so full two people had to share. It would tell of being full of food for a party and nourishment for the soul. Mostly, it would tell of a family that gathered there day after day proving what the Bible verse and song already knew…”whenever two or more of you are gathered in my name…there is love.” Around that kitchen table…all those special years…one thing was for absolute sure…there is love.