The Kitchen Table…..What it means to our Family

Our kitchen table should perhaps be called ‘The Meeting Table’, it is where we gather to meet, to laugh, to share, to argue, to cry, to play, to eat, to drink, to study, to create, to store stuff on, to read, to wrap presents, to chat, to budget and so much more.
The other day I was looking at those big square eight seater tables and my husband quickly shot me down and said that we would not replace our current table as it holds too many memories – both good and bad. So that was that, I quickly thought about it and yes, he was right, so many memories in our crappy old table, and even though it is crappy and old, it is our crappy and old table.
I remember years ago sitting at that table home alone blasting out Billy Joel’s ‘Goodnight Saigon’ over and over again bawling my eyes out. I can’t remember now why I was crying profusely, but I just remember sitting there taking comfort in a piece of furniture. I remember when we have had family celebrations around this same piece of furniture – no tears then, only laughter and good times.
Our table has had pride of place in our dining or kitchen areas in nine different houses – the houses have come and gone, yet the table remains a stable part of our family. Currently it resides in our home, rather than our house. Sitting at it we can see the street at the front of our house, the billabong to the side of our house, the children playing in the pool to the back of our house and finally on the other side we are offered a view of books and photos that represent our family life.
Last night the table was a lively place to be as we were all at home and had plenty to share with each other. At one point I sat back and listened to the banter going on and I gave thanks for my beautiful family and all that we have.  It made me think of those families that don’t come together at meals time around a table, I felt a little sad for families that don’t interact this way. I know that there are many reasons for this not to happen, and in my house often one or two family members may be missing due to other commitments, but it is really important to our family to touch base daily, and the kitchen table is the place for this to happen.