The Table

My favorite table ever was purchased as we were moving into our century-old farm house five years ago. The table was large but not formal-a distressed farm table. Often many friends and/or family would gather around it. When we sold our house to move to Nigeria, the table stayed.

We now have an old hand-me down table with a piece of cloth over it to cover the chipped formica. Our chairs are mismatched wooden school ones. Not a scene you'd find in a furniture catalog!

However, it is here, around the table, where many relationships are formed, strengthened and sorted-out while memories are made. At this table we play games-all sorts of games!, do homework, decorate cookies, write lesson plans, carve pumpkins, build puzzles, eat meals, and share many-oh so many-stories. The conversations around our table always amuse me...especially when we have extra kids over. If you were here the other night when a bunch of students ate with us, you might have heard:

-Oh-that stinks! Who just stepped on the stink ant?
-After killing the rat, he ate it. (along with the details of the process of preparing the rat)
-Was that gunfire we heard during lunch at school?
-Can I have another sloppy joe?
-You've NEVER had a Christmas present?
-Can I have your dessert?
-Are you white? (not as easy to answer as you might think)
-They just rip the head right off with their hands. (This wasn't referring to the rat!)
-What are you having tomorrow night for dinner?
-Let's play a game.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”
 Frederick Keonig