You Say It's Just a Table...

This was an exercise conceived after writing the middle section of Essays on a Day

My friends have a table. You might say it’s just a table, but I say it’s a little bit more.

It is the table around which we gather, on which we eat and play games, and under which the dog hides, because she thinks she is a cat. I spent two weeks sitting around that table, making new friends and growing closer to old ones. As I look at that table I see the phantoms of parties past, laughing, relaxing, blithely ignorant of the table, because who looks at a table?

As I look at the table I see a proud father bent over a work bench, spending hours on his gift for his newly married son. I see him walking through a lumber yard searching for the best wood with the best grain, because not just any will do. Then I see him crafting his gift, tailoring it to the man he knows his son has become, and preparing it for the life ahead of him. It is made for disassembly as much as for assembly, because he knows his son will be mobile. It is larger than most coffee tables, because he knows his son will have many guests. It is sturdy, because he knows his son sometimes breaks things. He smiles and takes joy as he adds shape and beauty to the table, because he is a craftsman, and this is opportunity to create something for his son. As the sanding is finished and the lacquer is layered on, he is touched by a solemn joy, because he knows that this table will endure the years much better than its creator, and many years down the road, it will be something for his son to remember him by.

As I look at the table and count its rings I am reminded that it once was a tree. As I look at the table and trace its scars, I remember the move from Seattle to Vancouver. As I look at the table, I see it surrounded by the as-yet nameless and faceless Indonesian friends that they will make when they travel overseas. As I look at the table, I see many things. Some say that the truth of a thing is in its existence, that things are what they are and nothing else. You might say it’s just a table, but I say it’s a little bit more.