bluetable

The Blue Table

It had been sitting there in the corner of the sunroom all the time.
It was covered with a big plastic tablecloth that touched the floor on all sides,
but it wasn’t until I was cleaning the house after Momma died, that I
discovered what was under that big plastic tablecloth. Oh, I knew it was
there, that table full of houseplants, but I had never thought about
what piece of furniture was under that cloth. I moved the flowers and
swept off the few dried leaves that were scattered across the top of the covering.
Then, as I pulled the old tablecloth off, I caught my breath in surprise
and stood there transfixed for a moment at the treasure I had found.
At least it was a treasure to me, for right there before me stood the
kitchen table. Not just any kitchen table, mind you, but the one that I sat
before nearly everyday of my childhood. It was the shiny, blue enamel table
with silver chrome legs that curved at each corner.

As I brushed my hand slowly across the tabletop, I became lost in thought
as my mind wandered back to the past. I wished that I could step back
in time and watch all that had gone on around that table over the years.
I closed my eyes and I thought I could still hear a childlike voice
from the past saying the prayer that Momma taught us, and I whispered:
“Thank you, Lord, for our food...for health and strength and every good. Amen.”

I opened my eyes as my thoughts came back to the present, and I noticed
the white drawer on the front of the table and there was the same
little black handle. Although I was fairly certain the silverware wouldn’t
be there, I couldn’t help but grasp the grooved black handle and pull
the drawer open anyway. I had to look just in case the silverware might still
be inside as it had been when I was a child. Alas, the drawer was empty,
all except for a couple of old note pads advertising an insurance firm
that no longer exists, and a red pencil with an eraser that had hardened with time.

Momma’s place at the table had been right here in front of this drawer,
and if anyone needed a fork or teaspoon, she would merely open
the drawer in front of her and acquire whatever utensil was requested.
We all had our “places” at the table. Mine was right beside Daddy
and I never sat anywhere else. It was my own special place. My brother
sat to the left of me and Mama was just across the table. When we had
company, the little table had leaves that pulled out on each side,
and we simply pulled out the unused leaf on Momma’s side of the table.

We had home cooked meals everyday but sometimes it was a
special treat to have cold cuts from the meat counter at our little grocery store.
This was usually liver cheese or minced ham. I remember playing with mine
and biting it into shapes so Daddy could guess what it was. Sometimes it
would look like an airplane, an elephant, or the moon. The important thing
was that Daddy played my little game with me.

My brother and I would bring our friends home for dinner and
we would sit around the blue table. As years passed, we brought
sweethearts and later on our spouses. One day, a high chair was
pulled up to the blue table when my baby daughter, Julie, was
old enough to sit around the table with us.

Daddy enjoyed company and while Momma served the meal, Daddy
served up humor. He would say, “Pass Charlotte more mashed potatoes please”.
My brother’s new bride, Charlotte, forced down a lot of mashed potatoes
before she figured out one day that it was Daddy who wanted more
mashed potatoes and he was having fun making it look like it was
all her idea to pass the potatoes around again. Toward the end of
a meal, Daddy would sometimes ask an unsuspecting guest, “Would you like
some apple pie?” After they agreed that they would like some pie,
he would say, “So would I! It’s too bad we don’t have any apple pie though,
isn’t it? I sure wish we did have some too, because it would
really taste good right about now.” Of course, after he was through having
his fun, he would then step out on the porch and bring back
the dessert that had been there all the time.

There were situations discussed, problems solved, and a lot of laughter
around the blue table. Sometimes good news would even be saved
so that it could be shared with everyone at mealtime.

It was a long time ago, but I still remember the last time we sat
around that blue table, the place to my right was vacant and the emptiness
was overwhelming. I’m not sure anyone asked for anything to be passed
that day. We just quietly passed the food but Daddy’s words seemed to
still echo from his vacant place at the table,
“Pass Charlotte more mashed potatoes please.”

In this age of microwaves and frozen dinners we tend to hastily eat a quick
dinner or grab a sandwich and run off to some activity. “We all need a
table to sit around,” I thought as I began moving the blue table back
into the kitchen. The table doesn’t have to be blue, but the family does
need to be there together. We all need a time to stop for a while and
bow our heads in gratefulness to our Creator.
"Thank you, Lord, for our food...for health and strength and every good. Amen!"