's motd Wed Nov 26, 2008

[Guest guest]

THE DINING ROOM TABLE

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

When I was growing up we had this beautiful dining room table. And

there, my family and I would eat all our meals. It was a long table.

And my father found it at a thrift shop. It was painted hunter green.

And my father knew under all that green paint, was a beautiful wooden

table with history.

I watched my father sand this table for weeks. He’d be out there

sweatin’ away while discovering the wood beneath the paint. And then

after all the paint was gone, he varnished that table until it looked

like it was brand new.

My father was in such a hurry to finish the table, for our Thanksgiving

dinner. It looked so beautiful in the dining room…like a piece of

artwork. I remember my mother getting the placemats out. My father

went outside and got some flowers and put them in a vase to place in the

middle of the table. I was in charge of the knives, forks, spoons, and

napkins, and Lenny got the water glasses.

I remember that Thanksgiving dinner as if I’d eaten it yesterday. We

had a Waldorf salad with chopped apples, pecans, and raisins. We had a

little bit of gumbo. And then, a shrimp remoulade.

The table was covered with a turkey, a ham, oyster dressing, yam

soufflé, and Brussels sprouts with butter and parmesan cheese. And from

the Four Seasons bakery on Royal Street came a cake…a chocolate cake and

a pumpkin pie. I ate Thanksgiving dinner at that table for many, many

years.

And when my parents moved to their new home, they took that table with

them. And my brother has that table now in his dining room. And

tomorrow, Lenny and , and friends, and family members will all be

sitting around that table thanking God for so many things.

I wish I could be at my brother’s this year and sit exactly where I sat

since I was a kid. But I will be on an airplane Thanksgiving morning,

and off to New York! I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.

Do you remember your dining room table?

Love,