One of the most used rooms during our week is the dining room. It's meant to be a "formal dining room" but is affectionately called the "coloring room" by Lydia who loves to color, play play dough and generally get artsy-craftsy in the room - homework, snacks, extra school work, items end up in this room. There is a nice chair for me to sit in the corner and plenty of windows to let the day in. But the real work horse of the room is the table.
This is the room all gussied up for Lucy's birthday last year and the table cleared and cleaned.
And again - ready for family to surround it this Thanksgiving.
This table is a special table - it was my Granny and Grandpa Kinsey's table. A table that more often than not had a stack of Bible commentaries and other books Grandpa was using to prepare for his weekly Sunday School lesson. Any day of the week if I stopped by I could find Grandpa sitting at the far end of the room, with his back to the window, reading glasses on, Bible open and soaking up Truth.
Most weekend days of my childhood - I sat at the table with Grandpa. But those times the books were put away and a table cloth covered the table - Granny sat at the other end. They sat at opposite ends of the long table facing one another - one with the world to his back and one with her back to the kitchen and everything they cherished in between - their family with heads bowed and hands held ready to give thanks to "Our kind, Righteous, Heavenly Father". We lined the sides in our favorite seats and shared stories and food and time (and that one towel to wipe your hands on because there weren't napkins for that).
Most Saturday's the meal was fried catfish and bream from Grandpa's pond, hush puppies, cheese grits and coleslaw. On Sunday's the meal always included corn bread in Granny's cast iron skillet and something from someone's garden. There were always stories about someone I might not have known (and should have) or of days long past but the stories were from two who lived in the same town they were born in and of people who were their people.
Holidays and special occasions saw even more family packed around the table and those two still at their separate ends. He with his watered down tea filled to the brim with ice and her with her apron, a pickle or two on the side of her plate slowly enjoying her meal (she was always the last to finish - often still enjoying that meal while we cleaned up dessert - I now know her desire to hold onto the moment of having family to serve and share life with)
So these days when I'm miles from the nearest family and no family just "stops by" - I sit with my family of 6 around a hard working table and make new memories. We don't eat our daily meals here but Church family come for lunch, real family gather for holidays, the table gets cleaned and cleared only to be cluttered again and filled with more memories.
This week I thought about that table and thought I would share a picture from each day of the week. I purposefully didn't move anything, left the clutter, didn't tidy up for the picture but caught us in the midst of the daily - the way it was meant to be. Many days the table wasn't cleared until the next day and then it was filled again...with dreams, presents, gifts, ideas, words, stories, letters, color, imagination, Beauty, Truth and Goodness...
Day #1 - letter writing to friends who have moved, letter to Compassion child we sponsor - Dayana, stamps, and items from backpacks emptied
Day #2 - More stickers, homework in Spanish, 4th grade math (multiplying fractions), scissors for cutting anything a 3 year can find, new picture frames waiting to be filled.
Day #3 - More picture frames, more homework, Bible verses to remember, paper dalmation dog ears, paint, books and paper.
Day #4 - Box from Nana with blanket from when Jeremy was a baby (thanks Nana!), more letter writing, the latest Economist and mail, LEGO cars, colorful tape from Aunt Vicki.
Day #5 - for a brief moment the table is clean and cleared and ready for whatever comes. I keep the table covered with a plastic cover and keep a map of some sort underneath.
Day #5- String to make bracelets, foam beads to make a necklace for a neighbor
Day #6 - Science Fair notebook, more homework, more papers from school, more bracelet and necklace making
Day #7 - More bracelet making, brother enjoying the light fixture, stickers, more science fair
Laughter, work, thought, creativity, family, tears, arguing, discipline - all while we sit across from one another, look at each other in the eyes and enter into the messiness of life that lies between.
This is Lydia holding her little brother, Nathaniel, when he turned 2 months old - maybe it's payback?
