It is our first new piece of furniture. We have returned home after a snowy trek to the expensive designer furniture store where we receive the kitchen table that we ordered weeks before. We had little money at the time, but this was to be our first family purchase. Our boy is young, nearing his first birthday. The designer and builder of the table is with us, he and his crew are bringing the chairs and table into the house and placing them in the vacant spot just off the kitchen. Four chairs with spindle backs, slightly over sized to accommodate my six foot, 200lb body. These chairs are too large for my wife, but she is going along with it. I imagine long dinners with friends – wine, lobster and our children. His chair is cute, a miniature with longer legs so he sits at the same height as we do.
Dinner is ready, places set, our first family meal at our first new piece of furniture. We are happy and excited; we bless our food. I hand our boy his metal spoon and without hesitation he expresses his delight by banging it on top of the table. I notice immediately the small crescent shaped dents multiplying with every “bang,” and I urgently reach out to stop him. Holding his hand for a moment, as though suspended in a dream, I realize that this will be the nature of our life together – As perfect as I will try to make it, life will accumulate dents. Small dents that will, over time, replace the well conceive plans – life that is real – made - evoked by the impact that we have on one another.
I let go.
(© Timothy Dukes, Fathering Journal, 2010)
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Beautifully told. It’s probably not to difficult to sand down a nice piece of well made furniture, nor to have it rebuffed, polished, stained, or otherwise refurbished. As an additional thought. Another good reason to embrace what is.