Deborah Petersen shares about how a piece of furniture led to many gatherings with family and friends.
When a flood forced us to remodel the kitchen, it made me rethink more than just what type of counter top to buy. Renovations, I learned, mark the passage of time and the mourning that comes with it. When we bought our house, we scored a long wooden farm table at the Treasure Island flea market.
As oversized as it was, we knew we would need it to accommodate the many gatherings we were certain to have. Joyfully, our home became the go-to for many occasions like Thanksgiving with my mother-in-law and friends who, like me, are East Coast transplants. Year by year, their children grew from babies to teens and our cat wandered into every photo with them.
Nearly 14 years later, my friend’s Midwest parents have passed, my mother in law just turned 90 and no longer travels here, and our ever-friendly cat has left us too. In post-COVID times we have fewer of the big parties we were known for, and now, they are mostly outdoors. It was time for our precious 7-foot table to go. To prepare for the renovation, we took down photos of the younger version of ourselves, the fading poster from a visit to Sundance with friends, and a copy of an East Coast newspaper clipping featuring the kitchen of our very first house.
There, we hosted every Mother’s Day, Christmas and summer cookouts. Now, we travel for most gatherings to those who cannot come to us either because they are too old – or too young and busy with their own growing families. We purchased a smaller round table. We chose a vibrant pendant light to hang above it.