Table for Seven

Earlier today, I walked through the dining room to notice that whichever child had been assigned to wipe down the dining room table last night had either a) completely skipped the chore, or b)wiped it down with a blindfold on.  Sighing, I grabbed the kitchen washcloth and leaned over the table to give it a scrub.  And as I was washing it, I noticed a mark I couldn't get off.  I scrubbed it for a few moments and realized it was probably permanent, like many other marks on that table.  And as I am wont to do, I inadvertently stumbled down memory lane, dining room table style.

We bought our dining room set shortly after we had moved into our house, while I was still working and before we had children.  We were saving all of my paycheck, and putting some of it into our furniture fund.  We had moved into our house in January of 1999 and had very little to move into it.  By the summer of 1999, we had enough saved for an Amish made, custom dining room set.  We traveled around the Amish countryside, searching for the right craftsman.  The man we found worked out of his garage in his yard, with his many children playing in the yard.  I recall finding the whole scene delightful.  We chose our simple Shaker style set, complete with buffet/china cabinet, mullioned mirror to match our house's windows, and 2 leaves and 8 chairs for the table -- in anticipation of the many children we were hoping to one day have.  It felt so fancy and grown up and new when it was set up in our dining room.  The whole house smelled wonderfully of wood, and every time I walked by I inhaled its scent and admired its beauty.

It's been a few years since that dining room set arrived in our house, and a few things have changed around here.  As we've added children and events and life, I realized many of our memories have taken place at that very table.  If those dining room walls could talk, they might tell of:

• Our first major family dinner, Easter of 2000, for our daughter's baptism.  We had both leaves in and the table had to be at an angle to fit in the room.   We had only two children in our extended family then, and though it was tight, we could all eat together in one room.
• Christmas dinner 2004, with our third child, aged 6 months (to the day!) in a bouncy chair on the table, crying through most of our little family's dinner.
• Discovering the multitude of old science fair projects behind the buffet when we pulled it away last year to paint.
• Helping a child through many a homework assignment at the table, listening to cries of anguish that "I will never get this!" and "When will I EVER use this in real life?"
• Filling the buffet up with our wedding crystal and dishes, and later my husband's grandmother's glassware.
• Feeling a little pang when my eldest daughter left for college and I had to set the table for only six.
• Finding permanent marker on the table after someone who shall remain nameless used the marker on thin paper.
• Folding thousands of pieces of laundry on the table and wrapping hundreds of presents.
• Serving birthday party buffets, and baptism and confirmation and graduation party buffets from the table.
• Finding, this past Halloween, a rotted mini pumpkin my daughter had made at our school's fall festival, sitting on the buffet.  When we moved it (YUCK!), we saw that her permanent-markered-name had been transferred to the buffet, ever to remain written backwards as a reminder of the incident.
• Going around the table at countless birthday dinners, each of us honoring the birthday boy or girl by saying what we love about him/her (sometimes these are funny, sometimes these are poignant, and sometimes it's like pulling teeth!).
• The table full of friends and family we've hosted, laughing and crying together over our shared experiences.
• Family devotions, full of singing, reverence, pondering, silliness and laugher, but always full of grace.

This dining room has been the foundation of so many of our family's memories.  When we bought it so long ago, we planned to never buy another set.  We wanted this one to be timeless and classic and to last our entire family years and marriage.  We couldn't foresee all that was to happen around that table and in that room.  The laughter, the decisions made, the conversations shared and mostly the memories made.  

I am thankful to the Amish man who crafted it for us.  Thankful for his skill to build something so well-made that has stood the test of time (and children!).  Mostly I am thankful for the family who surrounds the table each day as we come together to share a meal and share our lives.