Keepers

 Keepers

Noel Laflin

12-18-22

What dawns on me as I look at Krysten sitting on our old dining room table (just a few years ago, or so it seems), is that she was the reason for the wooden table. Its predecessor was a large, heavy glass table with pointed corners, just the thing that a growing child might run into accidently.

So, it came to me one evening that this had to be remedied and off I went in search of something that wouldn’t gash out an eye or tooth.

I found exactly what I was looking for on my first stop, a store that carried nothing but wooden furniture. I was glad it was still around as I had bought a rocking chair there twenty years prior to that, which now resides with my sister in Oklahoma. It was, and still is, a finely crafted rocker.

So, the oak table and accompanying oak chairs came home with me that very night. I still drove a pickup truck back then – something I gave up years ago as friends, knowing I had a truck, were always asking me to help them move. Giving up trucks was a smart move on my part.

Anyway, the old glass table was moved to the garage and eventually sold at a garage sale, and the new oak table took its place.

Over the last quarter century, this table has seen endless meals served upon it, played host to countless games of dominoes (when the wood is highly polished the dominoes really sail across its luster), has held small Christmas trees (as noted here), and been a work station for pounding out stories, just like this one.

But, it also held the likes of children – at least this one – quite sturdily. And with its smooth rounded edges, never presented a threat to either small eyes or teeth.

As I no longer have a truck, this table will be staying with us for the foreseeable future, too, no doubt. And that’s okay, as it’s a keeper, just like this snapshot from a Christmas past, and that kid, of course.